


The Scars of Time

by EriiErii



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Multi, Other Additional Ships to Be Added, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pokemon Journey, Possession, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Trans Male Character, Violence, background characters with expanded roles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2020-11-07 22:00:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20824478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EriiErii/pseuds/EriiErii
Summary: He was supposed to go on a pokemon journey. It should've been just a normal adventure of discovering pokemon, competing in leagues, and doing all he could to be the best, but between a delayed start due to illness, and another cut short by a mysterious force sent to kill him, fate had other plans. Thanks to the powers of a golden ring, he finds himself completely thrown into another world alongside Celebi, thrusted into far more duties than what was expected of a typical pokemon trainer.With more questions than answers, and a sinister plan threatening two worlds, Kiran is left struggling with the responsibilities between pokemon and heroes.





	1. Shadow of the past

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! For post updates, questions, art and general random silliness in between, check me out at eriisaam.tumblr.com for more!

"...pii! ...Pikapii! Pikaaaa!"

As much as Kiran was called at, he remained in bed, content to hug the pillow tighter and bury his face deeper in hiding. He ignored the now-muffled pleas and calls as small paws tried to keep pushing and shaking him every so often, none of which Kiran was ready to get out of bed for.

Alas, this was routine, but not one the stubborn rabbit-like mouse was entirely out of his element against.

With tiny pricks at his arm, Kiran finally couldn't ignore the attempts and turned his head to expose his face, all with little else but an "oowww" he halfheartedly moaned out in pretending it hurt worse than it actually did. He was greeted with the sight of his pikachu friend stubbornly biting and tugging him by the arm with a determined glare. He was already dressed in his service vest, and he already called out Kiran's equally-dressed up chansey to assist him with preparing a softboiled egg she held.

"Wrrrrn...!" He didn't aim to hurt him. The pinch to his arm from his fangs were only just enough to maintain a grip. Unfortunately, Kiran brought it on himself for how often waking him up became such a drawn out task nowadays, even if he knew as much as Kiran did the reasons were sound.

"Alright, alright, you can let go now. I'm up, Burger."

"_Chu!_" He was used to _this_ part of the routine, too. He wouldn't believe it until he saw Kiran sit up for himself. The pikachu stubbornly remained vigilant until not only Kiran was out of bed, but he could see for himself Kiran ate. There would be few exceptions, but laziness wasn't one of them.

He took in a softboiled egg offered by the chansey and drank the liquefied soup-like yolk before eating the rest of the more solid egg-white lining the whole shell. He followed up with bitter, crushed herbs and equally strange-tasting remedies he had since developed a tolerance to the aftertaste of, but still dreaded taking them. He felt Burger's eyes burn into him the entire time until finally relenting when Kiran proved he did in fact swallow the entirety of his dosage.

"Hah! You only just got up?"

Although slow to do so in his lingering exhaustion, Kiran looked up to the door. He smiled up to Reed in seeing him cross his arms and lean his back a bit against the doorframe, already dressed to impress with his less-than-tamed black hair sticking out from under his hat contrasting his otherwise simple, cool demeanor. He would've been more enthused in his smile if he didn't feel even more tired waking up than he had when he went to bed.

"A'ight Burger, Phina, lemme scooch on by between the two of you, ok?" While he tried to be casual and keep the mood high, his demeanor softened in trying to slip by between the overly protective pikachu and the fussy chansey to try to help straighten his younger brother out for the day. While he was all too used to the routine to help him on his feet, untangle the dark strands to his longer hair, and occasionally catch him when he suspected Kiran wobbled too much to risk collapsing, his smile turned bittersweet, especially how much he could see Kiran looked guilt-ridden to need this kind of help every so often.

"Hey. Bud. Cheer up, will ya?" After all, Reed knew as much it wasn't Kiran's choice, nor his fault. He could see how he was paler today than usual and patiently let him lean against his chest, watching how sullen and dull Kiran's already-faded blue eyes were to even focus on him. He could see Kiran nod, but he was so exhausted today in particular that even such a simple gesture took a bit to force himself to do.

It was _her_ fault.

Whoever she was, _whatever_ she was, he could never forgive her for what she did to his brother.

He tried to hide it, but every so often when he caught even a glimpse of Kiran's upper chest, he was inwardly seething at the scar he saw. It was no secret how unusual it was with the way he caught it glowing a few times with a faint, magenta hue. Then again, what else could they expect from some crazy bitch he honestly still couldn't tell was human or not? For what Reed could remember, the skin of her face was so sickly pale that there was no doubt she was a corpse, but the rest of her body carried this unusual, eery lilac glow that made him think more of a ghost pokemon trying to play tricks on them instead. Maybe she was a haunter for all he knew, and she certainly had the general imposing feel and dreadful aura of one. But then what business did some haunter have, wild or trained otherwise, to lurk around forests and try to attack people with skeletal illusions or a _scythe_ of all things?! At first, he was relieved he could protect Kiran from letting her kill him, but he couldn't protect him from her attacks completely. One slight nick to his chest, and ever since, it was completely up to chance how well Kiran would be in any given day from reasonably normal to critically ill.

Yesterday wasn't the worst, but it was still awful. Kiran proved that today didn't look good either. He didn't let it go over his notice the rather cruel irony that the host of a series of luck-based game shows has a younger brother whose life was a game of chance every day.

"There you go. C'mon. You need the fresh air, ok bud?" As weak as he could feel Kiran nod, it was still a nod nonetheless. Reed tried to force himself to broaden his smile. "Besides, Lois and Rita will be off her shift soon. Maybe we can try again and get closer this time, ok?"

Right... again... They could try again to reach Professor Elm in New Bark Town.

In truth, he knew deep down that going to New Bark Town to meet the professor wasn't necessarily a requirement to be a pokemon trainer. It was just as legitimate for the trainers willing to trek the region to meet the professor in person as it was to discreetly buy a pokemon from the game corners or market-sides or adopt one from families or centers. Kiran in particular wouldn't even necessarily miss out on those rare starter-inclined pokemon with how Reed's job was practically giving them away left and right. He knew this and so many reiterated this point to him that all their good will to say it anymore had the opposite effect for just how often they kept saying it.

It wasn't about the pokemon, or the technicalities. Reed knew it was a matter of pride. 10 year olds from around the region, if not from other parts of the world, could make the trip. More, there was enough confidence to leave them to do so entirely on their own to fend for themselves for the whole trip. _They_ could do it, so why couldn't he - who was barely still a teen - be healthy enough to go past Ilex Forest or the crossroads at Route 36 otherwise?

He had long since given up attempting it alone anymore. Reed wouldn't allow it, anyways, not since the attack. But hardly anyone knew Elm to leave his lab much at all, let alone New Bark Town in general, and Reed had worked long enough in the broadcast tower to know Oak would spend more time pre-recording messages to broadcast on TV or over the radio than actually stay in the tower for long. Maybe a pokedex may not have been _that_ important to get, but it was the significance of getting one at all that left the two brothers frustrated, Kiran moreso.

He tried to keep himself on his feet no matter how much his legs felt light or how subtly his entire body was shivering and threatening to collapse. Already, he could feel pressure on his head, like a massive weight clinged onto his shoulders and stubbornly lingered on. He waited on Reed recalling Phina and checking the pokeballs attached to Kiran's belt, then recalling Burger in a different ball embedded in a dog tag esque charm held by a long chain against Kiran's chest. No matter how much Reed reassured him this was fine, a part of Kiran still worried Reed resented him deep down for being so helpless much of the time.

Maybe... if he wasn't still here, then Reed wouldn't have to

"Reed! Kiran! How sweet of the two of you~"

He snapped to attention and looked up to the source. That was another issue on his laundry list of things wrong with him. One moment, he was at Reed's home, and the next minute a familiar pair of blonde girls happily waved to him and Reed, having only just swapped out of their rotation as Whitney's trainers to meet up with them. Everything between that was a complete blank of what happened otherwise that brought him here, and it was far from the first time he mentally blacked out like this.

"We didn't keep you waiting too long, did we?" The older of the two girls brightened when Reed shook his head. Wasting little time since they got here, she quickly locked arms with Reed, a gesture he happily eased to link with her likewise.

Kiran quietly shook his head as well. It wasn't as if he could remember how long it took anyways. As close as he knew Reed and Rita were, Kiran and Lois were happier keeping a slight bit of distance to watch their older siblings reunite.

"How'd battling go?"

"Pretty well~ We had three challengers, and Whitney didn't shed a tear once!"

"Good!"

"How about you? Any winners this week?"

"Heh. I hope. So far, we didn't have any matches yet."

Regardless of what Reed and Rita said or where they found common ground in today, Kiran's smile softened just to see how much the two clearly brightened each other's days just to be in each other's company at all.

"Ah, how are you holding up, Kiran?"

His attention drifted away from Reed and Rita the more the two talked and the closer Rita inched up to him to cuddle him. He focused more on Lois, smiling politely to her even when his exhaustion still showed.

"Decently... how have you been, Lois?"

"Ah, well! Besides one trainer using a bug type, anyways."

"Ah? Was it a cute one at least?" By contrast, even if he and Lois were comfortable with one another, and they knew each other fairly well, they were nowhere near as cuddly as their older siblings, happy enough to simply stick close to one another while trailing behind the older lovebirds gushing about the latest pokemon hatched in the Eggzamination channel.

"Eheh~ Don't get me wrong, I can see why a caterpie is adorable to some people, but... To think it evolves into something so big and imposing like butterfree, well..."

It wasn't something her comfort level was ready for, is what she wanted to say, but couldn't find the will to say it when she knew plenty people would regard butterfrees as pretty cute in their own rights. Kiran gently bumped his shoulder against her to which Lois giggled and bumped back, knowing he'd understand it may take her more time to ease herself around bug type pokemon even still. She probably would've had less trouble about feeling comfortable around them if one boy hadn't had the bright idea to force her to like bug types right away in the form of sticking a beedrill up to her face. Cuz after all, nothing gave her confidence like a massive bee with thick needles for hands, buzzing aggressively while towering over her, certainly.

"Ah, now? I mean, sure, we can try I guess, but you really wanna go when you're due to record soon?"

Kiran perked up in refocusing on Rita. He vaguely noticed Lois do the same. He was grateful of how flexible and kind Rita and her sister also were to his and Reed's plights, but given his anxieties of burdening Reed enough as it is, it only made his guilt grow.

"I already cleared it with the director, and he was cool with it. He gave me the green light to pre-record next week's numbers just in case, so I'm free if you are."

"I admit, it _would_ be nice to step out of a big city like this every now and again... Oh, but, I do need to stock up first, if you don't mind. It's been a while since I kept my bag in order."

"Right, right, you never know when that next rare pokemon's gonna drop an' all."

Maybe it was typical among seasoned trainers then. Kiran knew Reed and Rita traveled pretty far and wide before the two settled down in Goldenrod City, but it still amazed him that despite their lines of work and what life they've built for themselves here, they were still eager as ever to find any excuse they could to step out to the wild every so often.

There were exceptions, of course. For instance, Lois was more than capable of leaving Goldenrod if she so pleased. Cute and small as her entire team may be, Rita already proved how far such a team dynamic carried her, and her little sister proved just as capable of following her sister's lead. And yet, she preferred the luxuries of Goldenrod over anything the rest of the region could offer.

"Oh... Ah... Sorry, but if it's alright, I was hoping to go straight home after... My pokemon and I were pretty much running on empty for a while now..."

Case in point. With how eager everyone else but Kiran were, she felt guilt of trying to back out, especially with how much it took for Kiran to be here at all. Thankfully, despite what she feared, everyone else seemed pretty calm and understanding.

"Hey, no problem. We'll walk you home on the way, ok?"

"Thank you..."

So they did. Goldenrod was a fairly safe town, but given how big it was, it still helped to stick in numbers rather than fully let their guards down like a smaller, close-knit town. For Rita and Lois's peace of mind, not only did the four make their way to their home, but Rita and Reed slowed down on purpose to keep their younger siblings within their line of sight. They continued to move on forward, Rita eventually letting her guard down slightly as she tried to think of what to grab at home and what else to buy, and it didn't take long for her and Reed to get caught up in another chat. Kiran and Lois were even more mindful to be careful where they stepped as they and their siblings crossed the train tracks. Kiran initially trusted Lois's lead when she walked on ahead while the older siblings trailed behind, but he eventually looked up of his own accord to be sure.

And he froze.

There was someone far down the tracks. It _looked_ like a man, except there was so much about him that looked wrong. What caught his eyes first were how parts of his body glowed a vivid blue light illuminating in contrast to his otherwise dark and twisted armor. What sent chills down his spine was locking eyes with him and knowing that, in spite of their distance, he clearly saw that they were red, cold, and piercing. Maybe it was accurate to say that man _used_ to be human, but there was something about him _now_ that

"Kiran! Hurry up!"

Kiran blinked up in time to see Reed hastily run up to him before forcibly dragging him back to them, somewhat panicked that his little brother thought it best to stand around right in the middle of the tracks. Just as Kiran was about to point the armored man out, he paused when the tracks were empty again.

"Is it another blackout? Here, stay closer to me, ok bud?"

It wasn't. Not that Kiran had proof it wasn't. He was frustrated, but kept quiet and relented to letting Reed lead him between him and an equally concerned Rita.

He kept his head down the entire time. They made it to Rita and Lois's home, and Kiran vaguely remembered seeing Lois off as she retreated up the stairs with Rita while her older sister prepared her bag, but Kiran was too distracted of what he just saw, wondering if he hallucinated for a moment. It was late enough for ghost pokemon to be out and about in theory, but he couldn't recall any wild ghost types native around the city who would care to try to frighten people at random. But what bothered him moreso was how similar that man was to the phantom lady from before. Was the trainer responsible for her using their ghost pokemon to plan another attack? Or was there more to it? He also seemed too human to be a pokemon, but...

He still kept to himself of the sight well past the point he left with Rita and Reed on their way to the mall. For all the times Reed tried to dote on him, he simply smiled back to him, trying to put an even bigger effort to avoid making it look too forced. He knew well enough his feelings for what happened in the last attack, and if he didn't have proof whether or not that ghost man was even real, he was even less inclined to worry Reed over nothing. If he knew, it would just stress out searching for a threat that might not really exist. He kept his head down and stuck close to the couple for every shelf browsed, every new storefront stepped into, and every sale that was going on at the time. At first, it seemed to be going well, and yet again Reed and Rita lowered their guard enough with their own plans of what else to stock up on for the trip.

Until in a blink of an eye, he was no longer in the mall. Now he was in the middle of the forest, disoriented of the sudden shift. 

He didn't know if it was stress building up, his earlier sickness catching up to him, or otherwise, but he blacked out again, and it took him a moment to realize he was not only somewhere in Ilex Forest, but that Burger let himself out and was trying to bite him on his neck to get his attention. Between his bites eventually getting urgent enough to break skin, and the way he tried to simultaneously growl at the same time as bite him, Kiran tried to take in his surroundings as quickly as possible before running in the direction back to Route 34's gate back in the direction of Goldenrod City.

"Kiran."

Only to skid to an immediate halt when something about the area immediately in front of him distorted, and a man suddenly appeared right in his way.

Specifically, the same man he saw at the train tracks.

"Kiran... please..." He took a step forward, but Kiran took a step back. Before, he saw how his body glowed in unusual, seemingly random places on his body, but he was even more aware, from being this close to him now, that the parts his body glowed only showed skeletal parts of the man within a clear blue plasma his body somehow contained, with the exception being the fangs within the mask covering his lower face completely with little else but faint blue fog. He was also even more aware of just how vivid his red eyes were as to outright glow and pierce the darkness of the forest, or how he held a sword that similarly glowed with a vivid magenta aura materializing the blade's razor edge. He held the sword high, clearly intent to strike Kiran no matter how unusually saddened and remorseful his tone was for a stranger who clearly wanted to kill him.

"Hold still and I'll make this quick..."

_ **"PIKA!"** _

Unwilling to let the past repeat itself, Burger threw away all reservations against attacking humans in favor of throwing coins at his face. While he relented just enough to strike the coins away with his sword, it distracted him long enough for Burger to bring out a vine long enough to build a lasso and catch the man to bind him.

They both knew well enough it wouldn't hold him long, but as Kiran pulled Burger off his shoulder to hold in his arms and run down the opposite direction, both highly overestimated how much time Burger bought them. The man initially tensed up in his bindings only to flex with a pulse of energy that shredded the grass knot at an instant. His eyes glowed even more eerily in such a way that it was almost as if he radiated a red aura from them, which grew even more obvious of how they were trailing along his face when he bolted right after Kiran with clear intent to chase him down and strike him.

"_KIRAN!_" He still called out to him desperately, but there was pain in his voice every time this man spoke. It was almost as if he regretted his actions, but then why would he chase him down and attack him if he hated it so much? He didn't even have time to stop and wonder how he even knew his name and why he acted like he knew him. Instead, he narrowly dodged a stab attempt that was strong enough to crush a tree in on itself as the man effortlessly tore through with both the impact and strength he channeled in his attack.

_"Kiran **please!** Don't make this harder than it already needs to be!"_ Yet again, Kiran dodged another close call that toppled over the upper half of a different tree from the newly-cut stump. This time, there was an unfortunate couple of pidgeys that flew out of the tree before it toppled over, albeit their flight patterns were clumsy and unfocused having to wake up to fly in such short notice.

Immediately, Burger growled ferally and moved over to peek behind Kiran, forming presents he hastily whipped out before tossing them to try to distract the swordsman only to grow even angrier when the swordsman wasted little time utterly shredding them without even taking the risk of whether or not the contents could help or hurt him.

Unfortunately, while Kiran stubbornly hugged Burger to keep him from bolting or running away from him no matter how much the pikachu struggled against him, his legs started to stiffen up. His running slowed, and he felt as if his body was locking up against him. By the time the shrine of the forest was within sight, Kiran suddenly felt as if he lost all control of his body and stopped in place.

To his relief, the swordsman stopped as well. However, despite all the running and the damage he caused. he didn't even take a moment to take breath. Against Kiran's control, he felt his body force him to turn around to face the swordsman, and Burger scratched at his chest while whining and crying out when Kiran's arms squeezed the pikachu hard against his chest with strength he didn't know he had. 

(What am I doing? Why? I don't want this...)

Burger was pressed hard enough against the charm Kiran wore that he was recalled against his will back into the pokeball-like unit embedded inside. More, Kiran's hands were forced to clasp tightly on the charm, preventing Burger from escaping of his own accord as Kiran's eyes dimmed and turned hallow.

He didn't know if it was the swordsman's doing, or his own illness, but he could feel the scar on his chest painfully pulse. He also saw the swordsman approach slowly, not out of enjoyment or pride, but with signs he definitely knew Kiran lost control over his body.

"Kiran... I'm sorry it's come to this." What was he talking about? Come to what? Why? He couldn't even control his body to ask. Without any other option, Kiran was forced to watch the swordsman step closer, preparing himself to attack him while Kiran was left helpless to stop it.

"Forgive me..."

Kiran could barely so much as twitch, let alone move out of the way. He saw the way the swordsman steeled himself as he ran to him, sword poised to ram through him.

_[Stop!]_

It felt as if time slowed and came to a halt. Were it not for the voice, Kiran thought this was just how it was supposed to feel when you stared your own death in the face. By the time everything was held in place, the swordsman was initially mere inches from stabbing the tip of his sword through Kiran's hand and just off to the side of where Kiran held the pendant containing Burger.

As if Kiran wasn't already frozen as it is, he wasn't sure how to feel with the swordsman trapped in place still so close to him, especially when the two were so close that he could see the desperation in the other swordsman's eyes and the subtle twitches showing Kiran how much he was trying to fight his own paralysis. The only thing that brought Kiran even a little relief was seeing tiny vines spread all along the swordsman's body that initially began as frail sprouts only to grow into thicker, definite vines binding him and eventually pulling him in place, moving with a power that defied the laws of time that held everything else in place.

[There was someone much like you who came here years ago. I couldn't stop her back then, but I can certainly stop _you._ ]

Much like what the swordsman did a moment before, a green nymph of the forest briefly distorted the area around them before making their presence known. Their voice was tense, yet reserved a gentleness hinting their anger eclipsed a normally calmer demeanor. Their voice was feminine and echoed seemingly from afar, in spite of her mouth remaining physically closed even as she spoke. A single hand was held out toward the swordsman, but she herself remained at a distance not to get in his range of attack. Kiran would've been elated to see a legendary at all, and he felt humbled of how much Celebi seemed to care enough to him to come to his rescue, but his heart pounded and his head felt heavier in his overwhelming fear of the immense dread the swordsman radiated just to be near him, whether or not he wanted to kill him.

"This doesn't concern you. I am only here to accomplish one thing and I'll be on my way." By contrast, although the swordsman spoke simply, and seemed truthful of his words, he was also highly dismissive of there now being a legendary pokemon between the two, and still tense enough to challenge the legendary's power by slowly working the nerves of his body back that Celebi's power over time tried to freeze.

[It concerns me plenty. It concerns Dialga and Palkia as well. You are not of this world, so what business do you have here with this trainer?] Celebi didn't let it phase her of the disrespect. She was much more focused on keeping the swordsman bound and separating him further away from Kiran. Her voice held slightly more authority as she tried to pry further, but all it accomplished was making the swordsman's eyes glow yet again. All the while, Kiran grew even more confused of what she meant.

_"This doesn't. Concern you."_ He was even more tense by comparison. _"It's a matter far beyond your concern. There's nothing you can do to stop me from what I must do. **BACK OFF.**"_

[And you shall kill me if I refuse?] She tried to read him, but tensed herself, if much more mildly in comparison to the swordsman. He didn't speak maliciously, nor were his words stemming from an ego inflated enough to want to conquer legendary pokemon for sport. However, she felt something equally tragic yet sinister for what he _did_ hope to accomplish to challenge a pokemon like her directly. [Is there really nothing that can be done as a compromise instead? Even if I were to grant you an audience with Dialga or Palkia?]

Kiran tensed. He could tell Celebi tried to reason with the swordsman to spare him, but he could also tell that no matter what, the swordsman's goal more than likely was to kill him regardless. Even with such an offer as to meet even more legendaries might not be enough to spare his life, but to Kiran and Celebi's surprise, the swordsman's eyes trailed lower as he seemed to take pause long enough to consider it.

By then, Kiran tried to struggle to regain his nerves, but at least he regained control just enough to even shudder, even if it was not enough to move or let his pendant go to free Burger. Unfortunately, the swordsman also showed he regained even more of his nerves to outright move, and made motions to rather stiffly and slowly to reach one hand to slip a golden ring band off his arm. The band was clearly of magical origin, as it alternated in diameter as he slipped it over his gloved hand and continued to grow in size well after he took the ring off himself. With his strength, he willed himself to break against Celebi's hold enough to toss the ring aside, where it not only floated just above the ground, but created a portal that opened just underneath it.

It already left Celebi uncomfortable of what she suspected of the ring's origins and purpose, but the portal all but confirmed her fears.

[...W-where.... where did you get that?] Her focus waned and her voice wavered. She was also much more aware of the dark splotches marring the otherwise golden surface of the ring itself. _[Where did you get that ring?]_

The swordsman didn't answer. As Celebi's fears grew, her focus to hold time still wavered, and as time slowly started to move again for the swordsman and Kiran, he saw an opening just as Celebi's focus and willpower wavered enough for him to tear his way out of his bindings, sheathe his sword and rush over to grab Kiran, forcing the boy just as his body fell too numb to fight back even if he broke him out of his spell of freezing him in place.

"If you really care to help, you _won't_ follow us." As the swordsman's voice hissed, an eery blue fog flushed out of his mask like a haunting breath in chilled air. As he turned and fell backwards while dragging Kiran down with him into the portal, reaching to grab the ring with him on his way down, Celebi tensed up and glared sharply at him.

[You lost your right to tell me to look the other way of this when you and your friend tried to murder people in our domain.]

Unwilling to let this stand, Celebi immediately flew down the portal just before it would close behind her. As the swordsman went into free-fall, he gripped Kiran tightly against his chest while his other hand carried the ring with a firm grip. Unable to let it stand, Celebi's eyes briefly flickered with a glow, predicting how far he'd fall, at what angle he could strike him without striking Kiran, and how low she'd need to plant her trap to reach him. She spread her hands out to generate seeds that flew beside her in free-fall, manipulating the sproutlings to try to use vines to not only ensnare the ring, but also grab hold of Kiran's limbs to wrap around him without letting the plants take root in him otherwise.

Earning a glare, the swordsman tightened his grip in pulling the ring against the plant's grasp and holding Kiran down even tighter against him, using both his own strength and the force of gravity against the nypmh to hold the advantage when he couldn't otherwise use the claws of his gauntlets to crush and swipe at the vines otherwise. He was even more secured that his momentum was already faster to fall with Kiran than Celebi was to fly toward him no matter how many stone spears she materialized in a failed attempt to strike him, especially when he forced his body straighter down to speed up his momentum even further.

Only to gasp in sharp pain when he propelled himself to fall fast enough just in range of Celebi's trap and felt himself sharply struck through the back of one of his shoulders by a surprise energy blast awaiting him.

The attack struck the shoulder of the arm he held Kiran in, and in the surprise and pain, it loosened his grip enough for Celebi to strengthen her control of the vines to pull both the ring and Kiran out of his grasp and closer to her just in time for the rocks she called upon to rain down onto him and cut him off from chasing them further down the portal and the numerous exit points awaiting them below. His efforts to save himself in swinging his sword to crush away the pillars was enough to distract from Celebi moving closer to Kiran with the ring and forcing Kiran in an angle to speed their own momentum down toward the bright light awaiting them below.

* * *

  
"...Oh! Did it work? Wait, _duh_, if you're here, then of _course_ it worked! Oh but... what is _that?_ A summon spirit, perhaps?"

When they came to, there was no longer any sign of the swordsman from before. Celebi was quicker to recover and take notice of how they were within some kind of empty temple, having crashed onto a stone altar. An ornately carved tree was etched along the altar's surface, but although dazed, Celebi realized she and Kiran were called upon onto the altar's surface, rather than crash directly on top of it from their earlier free-fall. She held confidence that the ancient relics she called upon in her earlier attack were enough to cut off the swordsman to delay him before he could follow them, if not derail his path entirely from the end-portal they fell into. She was quick to notice, instead, a red-haired woman donning highly distinct golden accents along clothes that were simpler yet more maneuverable for the battlefield. An unusual, highly decorated gun was in her hand, but she held the awfully overdecorated gun in one hand loosely enough not to use it on either of them or intend to. The lady was highly confused of her presence as she was of Kiran's, but more in a way she seemed unsure of what to make of either of them than the stunned awe or surprise Celebi was more accustomed to in times she'd surprise unsuspecting young trainers.

"I-I guess it makes sense, especially if he really _is_ a summoner, but... erm... that's... odd... why isn't he getting up?"

Thankfully, although Celebi grew concerned and started to worry of the same thing, Kiran did, in fact, eventually regain himself to sit up as well. The first thing Celebi noticed was that Kiran's originally plain hooded jacket was now covered in similar golden accents like the girl greeting them, etching a similar insignia along the center of his hood and the center of either cuffs of his coat.

The second thing she noticed, and felt a chill run down her body to see, was not only the rather unusual way Kiran picked himself up enough to sit up neatly and seamlessly with little struggle, difficulty or disorientation, but also the way he stared vacantly straight ahead of him. His eyes were far darker than the faded blue tones it was originally, and they looked hallow if not completely empty. It was debatable if he even noticed the girl at all in the first place, especially when everything from his eyes to the rest of his face was void of emotion, and he didn't seem inclined to focus on her much at all. More, not once since he sat up did Celebi see him blink.

Even the girl seemed unnerved of the sight, even if Kiran clearly demonstrated he was alive and well... in a manner of speaking.

"Er... right. Um..." She cleared her throat. She clearly had a plan as to why she called Kiran, and no amount of nervousness of how eerie Kiran looked would sway her off her goal. She held the gun like a relic she held between her hands, holding it between her palms as she clasped her hands together in trying to reach out with her plea to Kiran and Celebi.

"Oh Great Hero from another world! Oh mighty summon spirit of the Great Hero! Thou hast come so far to fulfill your role in our legend, for our kingdom now stands on the very brink of ruin and chaos."

Unfortunately, Kiran's stare still remained vacant and void of emotion no matter what the girl proclaimed. Considering the panicked thoughts Kiran radiated back in Ilex Forest and the fear he expressed well before he lost control of his body, it was obvious to Celebi something was wrong in the boy right then, but she remained uncertain of what. She shrunk the ring down and wore it as a bracelet she slipped on one of her arms, but she tried to focus on the girl when Kiran's own focus was debatable right then.

"Great Hero, thoust is called here- er, _thou_ hast been called here to aid the heroes of the worlds as thine is beingst- er... was it thy or thine? Anyway..."

It was also painfully obvious to Celebi that for as much as the girl tried her best to present herself as regal, if also to the degree of being archaic, the girl tried so desperately hard to put her best foot forward that between having to explain herself to a legendary pokemon and a boy who barely blinked for the first time since getting here, it was starting to unnerve her so much as to expose this wasn't her normal manner of speech. It was enough for Celebi to intervene and raise a hand in waving her words off.

[Your efforts are admirable, and your respect is appreciated.] She did try to give the girl credit where credit is due, even as the girl's eyes widened to hear Celebi's projected voice. [But even so, please, speak freely with your own natural voice. The formalities isn't quite necessary.]

"Ah, so you can talk...? Er, thank you, miss ...um... What is your name?"

[As I am without a trainer, I have not been given a formal nickname. But I am a celebi, and for now, that may suffice.]

She expected as much to meet humans who weren't familiar with what kind of pokemon she was. She was less prepared of how utterly confused and surprised the girl seemed of even her way to describe herself.

"Trainer...? Er, if you say so, Lady Celebi. My name's Anna, the commander of the Order of Heroes. And uh... what about the name of the Great Hero?"

"..."

At least Celebi took it as a good sign to see Kiran move at all, but what flustered her and Anna was Kiran slowly tilting his head and looking even further away from Anna than before. At this point Celebi's suspicions grew that he was possessed, and she started noticing a faint energy from his chest, but not any specific connection drawn between him and any other force to pinpoint a cause. She witnessed just enough of Kiran's struggle with the earlier swordsman to overhear the name the swordsman called him, but she wondered if Kiran's empty state was caused by the swordsman, especially when even Kiran's thoughts remained just as empty as his emotions right then.

[I believe his name is Kiran, but... this is not his normal nature.] Though the two began as strangers, her growing concern for not just the unusual way the boy acted, but the way he was narrowly killed in her kind's domain made it all the more difficult not to get somewhat attached, if only just enough to make sure she could leave him somewhere safe.

After all, she believed she was responsible for his current state.

"It's not...? Erm... If you don't mind me saying it, did something happen to him then? If that's not normal for him, he _did_ seem rather..." 'Distracted' was definitely far from the word Anna was looking for, but how else to describe him politely? He clearly wasn't dead, but from the way he acted, it was as if his soul might've.

[Actually, there are some questions-]

"_There you are!_"

But before Celebi could finish, both her attention and Anna's were redirected to the front entrance of the temple. A soldier barged in, lance and shield in hand, giving little time for the three to block him out or prepare otherwise. Fortunately, it took far less time for Anna to prepare compared to the time it took for the soldier to run from the entrance all the way up to the altar and to them. 

"Here, keep an eye on this, will you? I'll take care of him!"

Anna figured enough that Celebi and Kiran were trustworthy enough to leave the gun in range of them long enough to free her hands up to defend them. Without the gun holding her back, she took up arms in the form of an axe she seemed far more accustomed to battle with compared to the gun she seemed less confident using. As much as Celebi kept a keen eye on Anna just in case she needed help, she seemed confident in the way she stopped the soldier halfway down the hall and clashed with him, quickly gaining the upper hand well enough for Celebi to shift focus on Kiran. It wasn't a pleasant thought to turn against a human, rather than settle her differences with a more evenly-matched force of another pokemon, but she wasn't entirely above the idea if the need called for it either.

Initially seeing it in the corner of her eye, she watched as Kiran reached over to retrieve the gun, but so far did little else but keep it close by him. Between the soldier Anna quickly tried to dispatch, and with little idea otherwise of how many else were outside the temple, Celebi tried to coax Kiran on his feet in realizing they weren't safe to stay here for long anyways.

"Aaaagh, more of them..." As much as Anna made quick work of the soldier who found them, she was relieved how quickly Celebi moved up to her with Kiran in toll, but Celebi's suspicions proved right. The fields outside of the temple were littered with vine-laced nets haphazardly interwoven over otherwise massive holes along the ground in random parts of the field. Further away, there were soldiers scattered all over the place between investigating minor forests to investigating ruins just off to the side of the temple. It was lucky enough to catch them while their guards were down as it is, but it was also inevitable they'd turn on and investigate the temple eventually.

"That soldier was from the Emblan Empire. They'll invade our neighboring kingdom Askr soon. Their forces are already massive, but worse so now that they were taking heroes out of their home worlds and enslaving them, ripping their free wills away to serve only Embla. The goal of the Order of Heroes is to fight for their freedom."

Celebi tensed but said little. She recalled, with a chill, of a similar occurrence in a distant region that left pokemon in a similar state, to say nothing of smaller but personal instances she had unfortunately learned of otherwise.

"We were desperate. It was a long-shot to find Breidablik, but we had no other choice. Legends call it "the true key". If the summoning ceremony was performed in the lands it was sealed, Vaskrheim, it was said to call upon the Great Hero who is capable of firing it. Not that... any of us know _what_ Breidablik's supposed to fire, granted. It isn't like any bow any of us had seen..."

[This gun is the relic you're speaking of?]

"Y...yes? So it's called a 'gun' then? Hm~" At least it gave Anna hope how much more readily Celebi recognized the weapon for what it is, and she took it as proof she called upon the right people, but the hope was bittersweet. Anna looked back to the soldiers, seeing subtle hints they were drawing their conclusions their designated spots outside was empty, which only told her they were running out of time before they would realize one of their own went missing in the temple. More, even if Kiran seemed capable enough to stand, walk, and follow, he still remained completely void of emotion past his eyes closing half-way as if he grew exhausted. Celebi figured a human from her world would be much more able to recognize how to handle a gun, but in Kiran's current state, it was debatable if he could truly help right then and there.

"...Ah... well... The important thing is, now he has it. It's yours now. More importantly, I need the two of you to do something for me."

[Before you ask, I have a question, Commander Anna.]

"Yes?"

[Is there any particular reason that you are divulging all of this to us now?]

Anna tensed and hesitated to answer at first. The way she seemed partially resigned, yet also partially remorseful, spoke volumes.

"...I can hold them off long enough for the two of you to run past them and get out of here. If you head past the forest and toward the first castle you see, you should be able to meet up at my rendezvous point with the prince and princess of Askr. Getting the two of you to them is more important right now, and maybe they can help break whatever spell Kiran has over him. Just... tell them to take care of themselves, ok?"

[Very well then.] As intimidated as Anna initially was of just how quickly Celebi agreed to her request, she figured it was about as well as she could ask for, given the circumstances, and she sighed and slowly nodded in slowly looking back to the soldiers.

[You shall tell them yourself. And you shall lead us directly to them. In exchange, I shall lend you my strength.]

Only for her to turn back to Celebi in surprise of the nymph's full agreement, immediately perked at the offer if somewhat hesitant.

"But... Are you sure you're equipped for this? I'm sorry to put you on the spot on such short notice, but-"

[But while that concern is appreciated, I understand the circumstances now. There is much I need to discuss with you afterwards, but for now, I shall aid you.]

"Th...thank you. I-I mean *ahem* Then let's take care of this as quickly as possible. Alfonse and Sharena are waiting!"

"There she is! _Get her!_"

Ready or not, the soldiers did, eventually, catch on to the sight of Anna just barely visible from the door-frame of the temple. With one of them announcing her presence, it didn't take long for all of the soldiers to scramble into a more unified front aimed directly to the temple. The only thing to prevent them from flooding the temple and pushing them back in for the kill was Celebi tossing seeds onto the grass, only for the seeds to rapidly grow fast enough to stop the soldiers in place to avoid running straight into what quickly amounted to a spear-riddled barricade. As Anna maneuvered around the traps barricading the previously straight and open path toward the temple, she tried to take advantage of the lowered guards before the soldiers could find the patches in between the barricade to slip by, it was just in time for Celebi to cut half of Anna's work out for her in threatening numerous soldiers with relic stones she called upon from nowhere in initially challenging their will to fight. When they still tried to steel their nerves to rush after her anyways, she returned their aggression with a storm of relics raining down on them that took out some and kept others wasting more time trying to navigate around her attacks than attack her for themselves.

As the two were going on, and with little to stop Kiran, he eventually stepped out of the temple of his own accord in witnessing the chaos between Celebi, Anna, and either sides of the temple they covered of the soldiers who chased Anna. By then, he shifted his hold in properly taking Breidablik in his hand to arm himself. He was vaguely aware of what was said and done, but the most glaring of what he took from it all was not only did he have a legendary risk herself for this, but a complete stranger as well, of which he was just as much a burden on both of them as he was to Reed, Lois and Rita. A small part in the back of his mind realized that things were much more complicated than that, but the more overwhelming, darker part of where his thoughts went were coming to a much different conclusion.

He was supposed to help. Right... Just like how he helped Reed? Whether he stayed here or returned home otherwise, the results were clearly the same, and he began seeing the swordsman's point more and more that perhaps he was right to try to kill him after all.

With Celebi and Anna too preoccupied, neither of them noticed Kiran armed himself and raise Breidablik to the side of his head. Even with this, his body was void of any other emotion except utter exhaustion. No matter how much that small part of him started to realize something was definitely wrong here, it wasn't enough of him to stop himself. He realized it now. He understood now this was for the best.

By the time he woke himself up enough to regain himself, his finger already pulled the trigger.

"Wha- ...What's with that light? Did he...?! Wait, why is he holding it like that?"

Anna managed to slay the latest soldier to rush up to her, but she took pause in her surprise of a bright light emitting from the temple, not only realizing Kiran used Breidablik, but was slower to realize the suspicious way he was holding the gun before the light proved too blinding to see him clear enough. Celebi also took pause to look back to the temple, having just bounded a soldier to the ground in a sea of vines against the grass.

Kiran's heart raced and his eyes regained more life in them, but only just as he became aware of how something had burst out of the gun only to nudge him further away from the gun with a surprisingly gentle push. His heart raced as he finally regained control over himself, but panicked heavily when he was just that much aware of what he did to himself just then. Instead of a bullet, there was a large, grey orb that the gun fired out, but in an unnaturally slow force that nudged Kiran off balance over actually harm him. More, as the orb broke and the light intensified for a moment, the end result was something about his size losing balance and toppling over him with a surprised cry as both Kiran and this new being fell over onto one another.

By the time the light died off, Kiran was on the ground, much more aware of a pair of hands rather unfortunately pressing against his chest, all while he looked up with reddened cheeks and an all-too-panicked look in his eyes as another man around his age was shaking his head and looking around in confusion. Long, silvery hair loosely bound in a ponytail flowed clumsily off to Kiran's side before raising as the man did, and reddish-brown eyes darted every which way between inside the temple and out toward the barricades in utter confusion of the new world. While his clothes certainly seemed reminiscent enough to suggest he belonged here like Anna, they were of a completely different style that gave away he didn't seem to be Askran like her.

"W-where did...? Nii-san? Nee-chan? Wha...?" At first, he grew flustered that the only thing to follow him in this foreign land was his sacred-looking bow sans a drawstring. As much as he shook his head in trying to push himself up, he froze up immediately the moment he locked eyes with Kiran, particularly once it dawned on him not only was he not alone, but where his hands currently were on this equally confused, frightened stranger he fell onto.

"_Shit!_ Where the hell did you come from?! Wait, look, sorry, don't get the wrong idea, ok?!"

  
To his credit, he at least got off of Kiran quickly enough, but Kiran was just as confused as he was as both scrambled not only to sit up, but to keep their distance from one another on opposite ends of the door-frame. Kiran still kept just as firm a grip over his hold on Breidablik as the archer retrieved his bow.

"Alright, bad start, I know. My name's Takumi, and will you at least tell me what the hell is going on?!"

As much as Kiran wanted to, he couldn't quite bring himself to say anything, leaving Takumi even more frustrated as he looked over to survey the field. With enough clues, he armed himself as he realized just enough that Anna and Celebi were on Kiran's side.

"Stay here and lay low, ok?" He quickly moved past the barricade while using his power to resonate with his bow. His power came in the form of arrows he formed with pure energy that matched a similar energy that formed the bow's drawstring. As much as Kiran initially scrambled to try to get up to follow him, he was overwhelmed with a heavy sense of vertigo that made the task to stand up already harder than it should've been, and left him quickly crumbling to his knees again.

The success of regaining his body in full was heavily short-lived, as while he focused on just how quickly Takumi turned the tide of battle in opening fire on the soldiers while defending Anna and Celebi, Kiran's vision blurred and the world spun around him. He was vaguely aware of toppling over, but was numb of the stone floor he collapsed against as everything grew dark.


	2. Picking up the pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While trying to manage with these sudden turn of events, not only does Kiran have to learn to adjust to the new worlds, but the Order of Heroes may have quite to learn about the world of Pokemon likewise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! For post updates, questions, art and general random silliness in between, check me out at eriisaam.tumblr.com for more!

_ "Sharena, run!" _

This was bad. He couldn't necessarily call it a bad idea, given how this forced his hand to fight or die, but it was harder to see whether there was a slim chance of escape worth fighting for now, or if they were just delaying the inevitable at this point. Alfonse tried his best to hold his own against incoming enemy soldiers who were tailing them, but there was only so much two young royals could do against a whole fleet. At best, all Alfonse could do was promise to buy time for Sharena to try to escape, if even that.

As much as Sharena_ tried _ to listen to her brother to keep moving ahead, she was even more stressed when she turned around just in time to see Alfonse struggling against an Emblan soldier, sword locked against lance, already showing signs of his knees starting to buckle under the pressure when his fears for Sharena's safety distracted him too much to properly fight.

_ "GO!" _ He was even more desperate when, instead of running ahead, Sharena not only stopped, but was scared enough for him to actually run back toward him. As much as Alfonse mentally screamed in his anxieties of taking his sister down with him after all, he was surprised when, suddenly, the massive pressure of the opposing soldier suddenly stopped, and abruptly enough for Alfonse to nearly trip forward when he shoved the soldier away from not stopping his pushing in time.

He blinked in surprise when he looked down to the now-lifeless soldier. He caught his balance just as Sharena reunited with him at his side. The soldier was pierced with an arrow made of pure wind energy that crushed his helmet and bore through his skull, killing him instantly. The helmet leaked a copious amount of blood, but otherwise heavily obscured the full extent of the grizzly aftermath. Barely.

He cautiously listened to his surroundings for more soldiers. He heard distant groans and cries, but saw nothing, and in short order, they fell silent, too.

Shakened, but taking in the peace from lack of reinforcements, Alfonse turned and tried hard not to make his shakey steps obvious, but was immediately relieved to see Anna rushing toward them, followed by not just the odd fairy, but the source of the arrow and what he could guess was the summoner hitched on Anna's back.

“Commander Anna!”

“What a relief! Are both of you ok?” So far she didn’t see any obvious signs they were worse for wear, but she couldn’t help but worry all the same. 

"Yes, thanks to all of you. I take it that's the summoner? What happened?" As much as Alfonse gave an equally careful glance-over to Sharena to check her likewise, not only did she also prove fine, but she huffed when she had much more immediate trust in her brother's health with far less scrutiny likewise.

Unfortunately, what remained was Kiran. Even then, he was unconscious on Anna's back, and stayed such for quite a distance away from the temple he and Takumi were found in.

"It's much too long a story for here. For now, let's retreat back to Askr before anyone else show up."

She had a point. Fortunately, the rest of the trip back home went without incident, but mostly because Takumi stayed highly vigilant. He and Alfonse kept their distance well enough, but Sharena, despite looking bright as ever in wanting to speak to him, was easily distracted by her brother firmly keeping her in the front lines where he could see her. 

Eventually, by their lead, they saw a castle settled in an open field, keeping its distance from the forests further out. With how modest it looked on the outside, and in seeing the severe lack of upkeep on the inside, Takumi wondered if this was a glorified fortress, and wondered moreso why the supposed prince and princess of what seemed to be a whole nation would hide out in a place like this without any other men past their general. 

"My apologies, we still lack a dedicated healer, but we do still have supplies." Alfonse tried to make do with what little means the Order of Heroes managed with, particularly in leading Takumi to a room while Anna carried Kiran just behind him. Takumi, meanwhile, wondered if Alfonse and Sharena ran away from home or something drove them out otherwise.

"I'm fine. It's not something I expected, but it's nothing I couldn't handle. I'm more concerned about him."

Rather than claim the room as his own to relax, he gestured Anna to lay Kiran down. She hesitated, but relented when Takumi remained stubborn. In short order, Kiran was set flat on his back, still unconscious ever since they and Celebi found him.

"So… What happened to him?"

"I'm still not completely sure, but it could be exhaustion." Anna tried to retrace her memories once more leading up to when they found him again. “Ever since he was called into this world with the forest spirit, Celebi, he seemed completely out of it from the start.”

“I mean… He seemed pretty alert when _ I _ showed up, at least…” Which Takumi tried to help piece things together as well, particularly when Celebi seemed to have flown off somewhere ever since they walked past the front halls. As much as Celebi’s insight could’ve been helpful right then, he could guess she probably wanted to tour the rest of the castle herself.

“Come to think of it, before you showed up, he used Breidablik in a weird way… It’s what brought you here, Takumi, but… surely summoning in any method wouldn’t have wiped him out _ that _ badly…” Even if it _ did _ heavily concern Anna how he thought to hold it up to his head of all places.

“Like I said, he looked pretty normal when I got here. I told him to stay put, and I thought he listened.” But he also thought against admitting the first thing he did was feel the poor summoner up, even if he was unfortunately _ very _ certain Kiran was aware of it. “I mean, I guess he listened to the part about staying where he was, but he was plenty alert and normal before I turned around and helped. When I looked back, he was already collapsed.”

“Hmm... And he doesn’t look like he was hurt, but…” Then again, while there weren’t obvious tells between blood on his clothes or visible tears otherwise, Alfonse wondered if there was more than just exhaustion.

“I mean… Can you take me home?”

While Takumi noticed Alfonse try desperately to look calm and stoic, it still didn’t go past his notice how quickly Alfonse tensed up at his words, like he seemed more stressed of it.

“Hey, don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not like I don’t care or anything.” Geez, quick to judge, much? He tried his best to ease Alfonse in particular, especially when he seemed the most immediately resistant of the three. “Look, you said you didn’t have a healer or anyone to trust with that yet, right? My little sister can help with that. Sakura’s the best healer in the army, and she’d be happy to help. All you gotta do is get me back to Hoshido and I can talk to her about it, alright? I can even bring my own troops in here too.”

While Alfonse still hesitated, and he held his doubts about Takumi promising so much, he relented with how earnest and frank Takumi spoke. Maybe Takumi sweetened the deal too much that it seemed too good to be true? Regardless, he tried to prove himself otherwise, even if a part of him was trying just a little too hard to prove he could be helpful.

“That’s… That would be greatly appreciated, but as for how to return you to your world-”

Before Alfonse could finish his thoughts, there was a bright flash that emitted from the dog tag-like charm Kiran wore that caught everyone’s attention. Once again, Burger emerged from his ‘ball’ on his own accord, shaking himself into attention once the light faded upon his release, but otherwise feeling no worse for wear from how Kiran forced him back into the tag.

Unfortunately, he didn’t make it easy to guess if he heard anything of what happened or not. He didn’t seem particularly lost, and looked aware of his surroundings almost immediately, but he chose to remain on Kiran's chest.

However, he also took an immediate stance in protecting him from everyone else in the room. Whatever he may or may not have heard, he seemed especially defensive against Takumi. Never did he see so much anger and fury packed in a tiny, fluffy package.

"...Is that another one?"

"Wrrrrn…!" Burger flattened his ears along his head. The only thing keeping him from electrocuting people was the reminder he stood directly over Kiran.

“I-it’s alright lil fella! Or um… little lady… We won’t hurt you, we can be friends!”

Out of the four, Sharena was the first to try to break the tension of the room. While Burger still eyed her warily, he did take notice how careful and telegraphed her movements were. He still didn’t fully trust her any better than the others, but he did have to give her credit that she was certainly making the effort to try to prove herself. His ears slowly rose, and he looked slightly less tense as he carefully watched her approach.

“Are you another summon spirit like Celebi? You’re very cute~”

His ears rose back straight up, and he settled his fur back down. Just a little. She did seem genuine in her words, and he was flattered, but he also still wasn’t sure what to make of this world or these people all the same.

“Aww, see? They’re starting to settle down! Sorry for frightening you and your friend earlier, but we’re glad you’re here~”

He eyed Sharena from head to toe. He visibly backed away for a moment when Sharena extended out her hand, and he stared between it and her face, but took a step forward to his original position again. After much hesitation, he reached a paw to gently touch Sharena’s hand, emphasizing how small his paw was in comparison. He still held his doubts, but he tried to make the effort to at least show his respect at the gesture.

“Aww~ I’m glad you could forgive us! So what’s your name?” She figured he was much more shy in comparison to Celebi, but she tried to encourage him to talk to them.

“Pikachu.” And for her efforts, he broke his brief silence while speaking frankly to her in return.

“Aww, how cute~” Thrilled she was making progress, she lifted her hand very slightly to ‘shake’ with Burger’s paw before taking her hand back when he moved his paw off completely. “So what world did you and Kiran come from, Pikachu?”

“Pika.” Yet again, he spoke frankly. He ignored the way they all hesitated at his answer, however.

“...Uuh…” 

“Oh! Um… The continent of ‘Pika’, huh…?” She somehow had heavy doubts he told the truth, but for the sake of conversation, she continued to play along. “Is there a specific country you came from, then?”

“Pika pikachu.”

“...Huh.” Anna and Alfonse were starting to suspect something was up. Even Sharena’s enthusiasm was starting to falter, and they missed the way Takumi glared.

“Um… Oh! Do you have a favorite food?”

“Pika pika.”

“What about Kiran?”

“Pii pikachu.”

“...F-favorite color…?”

“Chaaa.”

“Is that seriously all you’re going to say?!” Finally, Takumi couldn’t hold it in anymore in catching on that maybe, Burger wasn’t quite as warm and honest with Sharena as they all thought.

_ “Wrrrrrrrn…!” _ And either because of his misgivings for Takumi, or perhaps to spite him (if not both), he went right back to lowering his ears and growling openly to the Hoshidan prince.

“Rrrrrr yourself you little jackass! Way to give us the run-around when she’s trying to be nice!”

“Wait, Prince Takumi, hold…” However, Alfonse didn’t buy that either. From Burger’s tone, he did seem to try to answer Sharena’s questions genuinely, and he seemed just as genuine in how offended he was of Takumi’s accusations.

“Is it perhaps you can’t talk in our language? That you are actually speaking your own?”

“...Pii.” He still didn’t like Alfonse all that much either, but he relented in nodding in confirmation.

"I see… So would it be safe to assume only _ some _ summon spirits like you can speak our language? Like Celebi?"

"Pii." He was still tense, but for as long as Alfonse seemed politer than Takumi, he continued to cooperate and nodded to answer.

"I see. Are there any other summon spirits like you besides Celebi?"

At first, all Burger did was loudly huff while watching Alfonse closely. Not that he had doubts he and Kiran's entire party couldn't defend one another, or even team up and hold an advantage over these people, but he also tried to heavily weigh his options on whether or not it was worth risking the rest of the party. 

He turned just enough to eye between the remaining pokeballs on Kiran's belt while looking between them and the strangers. It didn't escape his notice either how, despite painfully obvious differences he had to admit were there, Alfonse reminded him quite a bit of the unusual swordsman who started this whole mess in the first place.

"Ooh, please Pikachu, you can trust us!" It was debatable if 'Pikachu' was even really his name, as far as Sharena knew, but it was her only reference she would happily take for now. "And it'll be even better if any of them can help Kiran out!"

Burger was even more frustrated. Sharena had a point, and he wanted nothing more than to bring Phina out, but would any of these people turn on them? He knew how Phina felt of battling, after all.

So he thought his plan carefully before hatching a plan to compromise. He moved back just enough to tap one of the balls on Kiran's belt. He thought it was best to have backup first before releasing Phina, and just like how he appeared suddenly, he surprised the four mercenaries with yet another pokemon to guard Kiran with, all with a simple tap from his tail.

“Rrf.”

“Oh! A puppy!”

While Celebi and Burger weren’t exactly intimidating (save for Burger’s poor attitude at least), Kiran’s next pokemon didn’t exactly inspire fear either. Compared to Burger, the orange and tan-furred puppy took a moment to look around in confusion, and seemed equally baffled of all the new faces. However, she wasn’t quite as quick to turn aggressive on the Order of Heroes compared to the pikachu either.

“Pika pika. Chu.”

That was, until said pikachu shared a few choice words with her, and she visibly tensed while standing between them and Kiran.

“Oh _ come on _…” Takumi was hating the pikachu by the second, but he tried to get in the growlithe’s good graces, especially when he had more experience with dogs than with rabbits or mice. “Hey there. Uuuh, so your master there? Yeah, we’re trying to help him.”

As much as Alfonse and Anna hesitated, and Alfonse even held Sharena back from getting close to this new pokemon, Takumi moved closer and reached out to extend his hand with the intention to let the dog sniff him. Surely, she couldn’t be _ that _ different from Shizue, he thought. If anything, he thought it would be cute if both Kiran’s dog and Ryoma’s met.

However, the growlithe narrowed her eyes and hesitated to budge an inch, so Takumi moved slightly closer.

“Erm, Prince Takumi…”

“Good puppy, good boy. Now, let us help your master, and we- _ shit! What the fuck was that?! _”

Unfortunately, just as Anna dreaded, Kiran’s dog wasn’t quite as normal as Ryoma’s dog, and far from shy to prove it in the form of huffing harshly enough to briefly belch a small burst of flames that burnt out almost as quickly as they came. Given the last pokemon to demonstrate their powers had outright terraformed a small patch near the temple Kiran was found in, she wasn’t quite as quick as Takumi was to lower her guard with this new pokemon. 

“F-fire… how…? And you just…?! What the hell was a dog even-”

“Pika pika.”

Looking past the puppy, Takumi noticed Kiran seemed to have at least two other pokemon he had access to that Burger used the distraction to release them, confident now that they would be safe. Both were gentle, round, and far more harmless-looking in their demeanors (or at least, at first), but one was significantly smaller and wearing the shell of an egg. Given the other larger, pinker pokemon had an egg visibly in its pouch, the immediate thought was the smaller togepi was the chansey’s child. Burger was directing Phina with all the tells in his body language that Takumi and Alfonse quickly realized he seemed to be relaying to her of what happened. Fortunately, Phina didn’t look nearly as quick to turn on them like the growlithe, but she seemed horrified every time she glanced over to Kiran in between looking at him or the pikachu.

“H-hey, will you-”

“Rrrrr!” Immediately, the growlithe arched her back and growled openly. It wasn’t an outright snarl as to suggest she would attack, but she still warned them against getting between them.

“G-Gloria… stop…”

“Rrwl…?”

So with everyone distracted between trying to navigate Kiran’s growing number of unexpected bodyguards, or to focus on each other to discuss what to do with him proper, nobody noticed Kiran slowly stir until he spoke up. Immediately, the growlithe took pause at her name, and as flustered as Takumi was in realizing he misgendered Kiran’s dog completely, none of them were willing to get in between Kiran and his pokemon right away. They all clearly cared about him and shifted their focus on him almost exclusively. 

He was delirious, but compared to how zoned out he was when he and Anna first met, she perked when she saw the true Kiran for the first time. She saw how he seemed aware enough that by then the togepi was the only pokemon on him that he carefully picked her up as he forced himself to sit up. Even as Phina panicked and initially waddled closer with round, stubby paws already padding at Kiran and trying to coax him to stay down, he shook his head in stubbornly getting up, albeit leaning against the bed frame. Listening to Kiran, despite how gentle his words were in trying to comfort his pokemon, the Order of Heroes stayed quiet just enough to catch on the names of the pokemon and who they belonged to. Burger still seemed overly serious, but it was like a parent checking on a child, and a sharp contrast from how openly Gloria whined and fussed over Kiran as to outright smother him. Out of all his pokemon, Gloria was the only one who didn’t wear some kind of accessory with ‘service’ written somewhere on it, as they were quick to pick up. And out of anything Kiran said in trying to comfort them and calm their nerves, there was one thing he seemed stubborn to insist among all of them.

“Please… be kind to these people, ok? Give them a chance…” He was exhausted even then, but he still tried to do all he could to ease them. Burger and Gloria were among the most hesitant, but reluctantly or otherwise, they didn’t seem as tense once Kiran spoke to them.

“Summoner Kiran! Er… Celebi _ was _ right that your name was Kiran, yes?”

“Yes… You’re Anna, right? I’m sorry, it’s complicated, but-”

“Oh! No, it’s perfectly fine.” Quickly assuming Kiran was filled with guilt, Anna tried to stop him in his tracks. “We’re just glad you’re well!”

“I’m afraid we aren’t quite acquainted yet with one of your summon spirits, Celebi, but it’s a relief to meet you on much calmer terms, Kiran. I am Alfonse, and this is my sister, Sharena. I take it you’re already familiar with prince Takumi?”

Prince? Kiran blinked. 

“Y-yes…?” As much as Kiran was thrown off at the realization Takumi was a prince all along, Takumi mistook Kiran’s awkward tone as clear evidence he was right of him remembering their unfortunate first meeting. Takumi’s only saving grace was how quickly Kiran tried to sidestep the subject, especially as he recalled Anna reference Askr’s royalty and wondered if she meant Alfonse and Sharena. “Oh, but… Were you Askr’s prince and princess? And Celebi is still here…? I-I should probably warn that-”

[You’re awake, I see.]

Kiran blinked. As much as Gloria stood firm, Kiran kept his hand on her to keep her in place and not rush toward the door. Not only did Sharena and Anna jump the most, but they, Alfonse and Takumi parted the way as Celebi fluttered further into the room. She genuinely did seem happier for Kiran, but something about the look in her eyes seemed almost bittersweet for some reason.

“Celebi… Thank you for earlier, but I don’t know where to even begin making it up to you…”

[Think nothing of it. But… perhaps there are some things I may need your help with after all.]

“O-oh! Miss Celebi, if you don’t mind, we have questions for you~!”

“Sharena… Give them a moment…”

“But Alfonse…”

[Yes?]

Despite the concerns Celebi had that stewed in her thoughts, she took pause enough to focus on the Askr siblings, particularly Sharena. As much as Alfonse hesitated, neither Kiran nor Celebi seemed to mind, and Kiran simply relaxed while patiently accepting Phina’s fussing and Burger’s heavy scrutiny over him.

“What are you? Are you summon spirits after all? So when Commander Anna called upon a great summoner, does that mean he can call upon summon spirits _ and _ heroes? And how come you could talk, but none of Kiran’s other spirits could?”

[My, you have quite a bit to ask indeed.] It almost left her unsure where to start, which flustered Alfonse more.

“Erm, that is… My apologies, Sharena can be pretty excitable.”

“Alfonse! It’s important, isn’t it? And it can make it easier to be on friendlier terms with Kiran’s summon spirits the more we know about them!”

“I mean… She _ does _ have a point. At the very least, it could benefit us to know all we could. But as for how to ask, erm…” Even Anna was flustered how much Sharena decided to dump all at once on Celebi. Fortunately, the forest sprite smiled a little brighter and shook her head.

[No. It’s fine. Perfectly understandable. We are, after all, from different worlds, so the curiosity is only natural.] 

Immediately, the tension in the room eased a little. Sharena’s smile brightened up at the thought Celebi was willing to indulge her questions. Only Takumi looked past Celebi to notice the way Kiran was alert, but uncomfortable, vaguely catching on to the slight tells in Kiran’s looks something was up. As much as Kiran stayed quiet, figuring Celebi could explain far better than he could, he also felt self-conscious that a legendary was taking so much responsibilities that should’ve been his, particularly a _ wild _ legendary.

[Perhaps to start, I should explain that we are called ‘pokemon’. We come in many varieties with different powers and capabilities, but as a whole, we are pokemon. I suppose a relationship between humans and pokemon could fit what you consider a master and summon spirits, but there are slight differences a trainer has from a summoner. For starters, a trainer does not simply materialize a pokemon to bond with, but rather, can earn the trust and right to train a pokemon in many different ways, the most common being proving their worth in a battle.]

He was even more baffled at how Celebi explained it. Maybe she lingered in worlds like these on her own accord? He wasn’t sure how a summoner was supposed to behave, and was even less sure how Takumi would’ve came to be, let alone whether or not it was just as easy to repeat his stunt to call other people. Even still, he himself wasn’t sure what to make of the idea of just calling random people to him as it is, especially people who proved to be of a far higher social status than him. Still, he didn’t dare interrupt, especially when she had the other Order of Heroes giving their full attention to her likewise and hanging on her every word.

[In our world, pokemon and trainers form mutual respect for one another, however that comes to be. It is the trainer’s responsibility to dedicate themselves to the well-being of the pokemon they command, and to help them reach their full potentials, whatever that may entail. It is our responsibility likewise to do what we can to protect our fellow party, and especially our trainer. How deep that bond extends, and in what way, depends on the trainer and pokemon.]

“Oh! Like soldiers and how they depend on their lord in skirmishes, right?”

[Yes, exactly like that.]

While only Sharena seemed the bravest of the five to dare ask questions, Kiran wondered not just if Celebi had a trainer before, but if she mingled with this world before likewise. He did consider how she spoke in such a relaxed tone as to feel like she was covering her favorite book, and yet, her choice of words seemed so specific of the details as to seem almost like she spoke from experience.

[As for our ability to speak to you, that’s a little… subjective… Our capability of doing so depends heavily on our species. Even so, even individuals of the same species may not necessarily speak to humans, or want to indulge them even if they could. Most pokemon speak a complex language we understand among one another with cues that differ from what humans look for in their own languages, but for pokemon who _ would _ speak to humans, it is fairly simple to translate in their stead.]

“Oh! So like Kiran’s other sum-um… pokemon. Just a moment ago, Burgles tried to speak to me. We might’ve um… hit a language barrier pretty early on…”

Given Alfonse’s insight, she did give Burger the benefit of the doubt of such, but while Kiran corrected with a soft, timid “it’s Burger”, he spoke with clear, uncomfortable embarrassment to admit such. Burger seemed especially focused on the conversation, but remained silent right then. He didn’t have ill will toward Celebi, but he still seemed far more serious and moody out of all the pokemon Kiran showed off. It was to a point Kiran sighed and nudged Honey closer, allowing the togepi to outright sit directly next to Burger to keep his mood pacified, which the togepi happily obliged in staying beside him with a bright, cute smile.

He knew Burger was glaring and pouting his way, but Kiran suddenly found the ceiling rather interesting compared to him right then.

“Uuuh, on that note, is that why you hadn’t opened your mouth once since we’ve seen you? You have a weird way of uh… speaking… Kinda reminds me of the kitsune and wolfskin of Hoshido and Nohr with the way you’re talking.”

“Bii. Pivi bii.” For once, Celebi literally spoke, nodding in agreement to Takumi’s point, all while knowing full and well they couldn’t understand her nearly as well as when she spokewith telepathy. Speaking this way, it further vindicated Burger of making a genuine effort earlier that simply failed.

“I uh… see… So that’s how you actually sound like… And you can’t talk the other way out loud this way, huh...”

“Bii.” She nodded again.

“So uh… If there’s other fairies like you, they’ll probably sound like that, then?”

“Biibii.” Once again, she nodded, but at this point, her smile broadened as Takumi was slowly flustered by her act.

“Alright, alright, we get it. Can you go back to talking however the hell way you did before, please?”

[Well, since you _ did _ ask nicely…]

“Thanks… Sheesh…”

“Uuh… Speaking of what to call you, what even are you? When you said ‘species’, you probably meant different creatures who are pokemon, right? You also said earlier you didn’t have a ‘nickname’, and you were ok being called ‘Celebi’, but what are you, and what are all of them?”

At least, the more Celebi proved to be patient and casual in the questioning, the more she coaxed everyone else to open up more. Now even Anna had her own questions to ask, which only left Kiran and Alfonse remaining stubbornly quiet.

[It is as you say. 'Pokemon' is an umbrella term referring to all of us collectively to differ from other species of life, like how you use the term ‘animal’. I am a celebi, but it is fairly common practice among pokemon and humans alike that if we do not have a particular nickname to refer to ourselves, we simply use the name of our species as if it were our proper name, much like all of you are doing for me now.]

“Oh, but um... Trainers typically also offer nicknames to pokemon, too... “ At last, Kiran broke his silence since this discussion started, which Celebi brightened to coax the trainer to speak up. As nervous as his tone was, he figured he may as well try to add in his own thoughts, especially when all of his own pokemon were nicknamed. “Different trainers might have different preferences of what to look for in a name, and some are fine just relying on their species name. A-although certain pokemon probably latch on to certain names depending, huh…”

He tried to be subtle about it, but he glanced briefly toward Burger’s way before trying to look away before the pikachu could catch on. As much as Takumi rose an eyebrow, and Celebi clearly saw it, she tried not to be so blatant as to call him out.

[Well… I cannot speak for every pokemon, but regardless of what our trainers chose to call us, we hold more significance that they would take the time to give us a name than what the name actually is.]

“...I-I see…” Somehow, that didn’t necessarily cheer Kiran up any faster, but he tried (if halfheartedly) to smile and hide where his thoughts went.

[Hmn…] For now, Celebi tried to leave the subject alone, particularly when Kiran seemed uncomfortable of it. [As for what we are, I am a celebi, but… I suppose I do not mind a nickname of another sort if need be. As for them, that rabbit-like one is a pikachu, the dog-like one is a growlithe, that is a togepi, and that is a chansey. But, typically, a trainer would’ve been equipped with a device that could immediately identify pokemon for what they are.]

“...Ah… about that…”

Here it comes. The disappointment.

As if Kiran wasn’t already unsure what to do once Celebi left after holding his hand up to now, for whatever reason. Now he dreaded the truth that with all the ‘trainer’ this and ‘great summoner’ that, he was just some sickly kid who didn’t even start his journey as a pokemon trainer, and far and well missed that deadline. He became just that much aware of how many eyes were staring at him and burning into him right then.

“...Pokedex… I-I mean… That’s what the device is called. It could help identify pokemon and give detailed info on them. We’re um… supposed to get them ever since we start our journey when we turn somewhere between 10 to 12 years old…”

“Oh! So a rite of passage, then! Like how we take up our first weapon to train when we're about that age, too~” As typical, Sharena chirped her words happily and thought highly of the pokemon world so far. However, Alfonse and Takumi picked up the way Kiran seemed more ashamed than proud to admit such.

“...I take it you don’t actually have that thing with you, then?”

While Takumi was proven right, he also grew frustrated how dejected Kiran looked before he nodded. He tried to hide it, but his efforts weren’t enough.

“...I… I tried so many times for years, but I was never well enough to make it all the way… If anything, my older brother did so much to shoulder a lot of my responsibilities I should’ve taken, and even with him and the help of our friends, it was never enough… I was always too weak, too frail, constantly holding everyone else back no matter how hard I tried to just not be sick for a while... “

[A pokedex is helpful, but not vital to officially becoming a trainer. And for one who supposedly didn’t start his journey, your team seems quite accomplished as a party already.]

“But it wasn’t because of me. It was because of Reed.” He shook his head stubbornly. He expected as much, especially when he had to hear something like it over and over again before. Go figure even other pokemon thought the same way as the countless of trainers told him before. “They’ve all got where they are because of Reed. He was the one to help train and prepare them. And it’s only because I can’t take care of myself that all of them had to keep such close tabs on me like this. And even then, I still couldn’t manage on my own to do something people half my age do all the time with ease…”

“Kiran… It’s not as if you got sick on purpose. You couldn’t help that…”

But Kiran sighed and shook his head, if weaker this time. Anna had a point, but it didn’t change his situation either way. Even now, there was no telling how long he’d stay well before he would inevitably collapse again. If he wasn’t cut out to being a pokemon trainer, he already dreaded having to suddenly be a summoner as well, whatever that would mean. It was one massive disappointment after another as far as he could give.

And it was a feeling Takumi was all too familiar with. The times he doubted himself, the times he’d be overshadowed by his own better older brothers and sister, the self-doubts and chronic illnesses and ways he’d constantly worry and disappoint everyone…

“...Hey, um… Kiran… Nevermind that for now, will you?”

Kiran hesitated, but nodded. There was no use dwelling on something he could change, after all, and he already felt a familiar guilt creep over him of ruining the mood. 

“A-at least until we get to Hoshido, ok? Just… put that in the back-burner for now.”

Which made it that much easier for Takumi to surprise him. He held some concerns that even Gloria and Burger mirrored in how displeased they were of Takumi’s suggestion, even if they were nowhere near as loud as before of their earlier feelings about him.

“Look, like I told all of you guys before, my sister’s a really good healer. Even without her, Mikoto is a great healer in her own right, too. At least give Sakura and Mother a chance, will you? Especially if your healing methods before didn’t work out up to now."

“Wrrrrrn…”

“Burger, please don’t start…” He could tell that Burger tried to defend Phina’s honor, and also defend Reed to a smaller degree, but Kiran was having none of it, especially as Phina seemed more inspired than offended.

“Give them a chance and maybe we could… I dunno…. try that out again? If we could go back to Hoshido at all, then going back to your world wouldn’t be a problem either, right?”

“...Well…”

And now it was Alfonse’s turn to hold doubts, especially when Takumi already made so many executive decisions as it is.

"Hey, I already said my peace on why. Can you help us, or not?"

"I can. Sharena or I could, but… haa…" Is it just a more elaborate ruse to go home and stay there? Even with Takumi's promises, he knew their offerings in this castle were meager compared to what Hoshido had to offer. Surely, he would just take Kiran and run. Just like _he_ did before.

"Well, maybe it's our turn to explain." Seeing how Alfonse froze up so much at the thought of heroes abandoning them so quick, Sharena stepped in. She was much quicker to trust Takumi meant what he said. 

"We _ could _ send heroes home that Kiran would've summoned! We could also send them on a one-way trip straight back with no problem at all!"

"And I'm gonna take a guess and say you can't send me home in a way that I could come back, huh…"

"Wait, no, we can! But opening a two-way gate is um… well… trickier… and there's a few things you should know between us and Embla about it…"

Sharena tried her best, but she already felt insecure for having to explain herself when it was usually Alfonse's strong suit. Takumi tried his best to simplify things.

"Hold that thought for a second. Your commander mentioned earlier that Askr and Embla are at war, I get that. As for why, can you hold onto all of that until we get to Hoshido? Then you can tell Ryoma and Yukimura, and they can help with reinforcements and such. For now, I just want to focus on getting back."

"Ah, that's true…"

But as Sharena tried to figure out the best way to explain, Alfonse beat her to it.

"The short version of it is that Askr and Embla both have the power to open and close gates and establish a connection between worlds. With a united force, we could open and close such gateways with ease, but without Embla, it is much harder and longer with just one of us. If Veronica isn't already trying to open the gateway of her own accord, if either of us did so, we might very well be cutting out her work for her and leading her straight to Hoshido, and any attempt to establish a more private connection otherwise will take far more time. As for Kiran's world, we at least have some point of reference for Hoshido, but none of us have the faintest idea of how to even get to the World of Pokemon to establish a gateway."

[If I may weigh in.]

Celebi slipped the ring she wore on her wrist, showing it in full detail to the others, right down to the suspicious stains marring its gold surface. Out of everyone, Kiran tensed uncomfortably at the reminder of his last encounter with it, and Burger's ears folded back.

[Your relationship to Askr is much like my relationship with certain legendary pokemon.]

"Legendary? Are they like legendary heroes?"

[Perhaps I shall answer that in more detail later, Princess Sharena, but more importantly, Hoopa and I don't quite have such a volatile relationship as Askr currently has with Embla. He also holds a similar power of accessing different worlds with his rings, like this one. We also, unfortunately, had recent proof it can indeed bridge these two worlds together, and the process will be far more seamless the more acquainted we are to new worlds. For now, if Takumi uses it, we can go to and from Hoshido with it, and we can further use it to establish a connection to our world.]

"Amazing! It's a good thing Hoopa is so kind to let you have it, Celebi!" Better still that Celebi and Hoopa seemed to be clearly on good terms with one another. However, Takumi tensed a little.

"Right. Sure. Whatever. Guess it's worth a shot. But uh… why is it all stained like that?"

[That is something I'd like to know as well.] Good terms or not, it was gnawing in the back of her mind, especially when she had suspicions of which specific hoopa it may belong to. For now, she tried to gently sidestep the question as not to worry them. [Once we arrive to Hoshido, there is somewhere else I must go.]

"You aren't coming?" While Sharena still didn't realize how Celebi and Kiran weren't exactly as connected as it all seemed, she also just as easily missed the brief hint to Kiran's panic.

[Our parting will be brief, but yes. I will accompany you just long enough to familiarize myself with Hoshido, and then I must part ways. At least, just enough to discuss certain matters and of how to proceed.]

"Um… Celebi…" He couldn't hide it anymore. Whether or not he has a snowflake's chance in Hell to even catch Celebi paled in comparison to being left stranded in Askr or Hoshido or wherever the hell whenever Celebi decided to leave for good. As if Reed, Rita and Lois weren't probably freaking out all the way back in Johto by now as it is, let alone if he was permanently stuck far from that world, let alone that region.

[Yes, Kiran?]

"Is there some way to keep in touch with you? Some kind of connection?" He fumbled with a way to ask. "I-I understand if you would rather not let me catch you, but, please, is there some way to call you specifically back? Not just any other celebi, I mean. You seem to know so much, and you've been doing more than enough to help us as it is. Especially if we need your help when you aren't here."

[Well…]

"And there are things I still left undone in Johto as well. I don't want to abandon Askr or Johto, especially when there's only one ring between all of us to use like that!"

She did have to give Kiran credit for being thoughtful of how to approach her of the subject, but it seemed, from the way she thought it over, she may have not actually realized how involved she was getting into this until Kiran brought that thought to the forefront. 

"Kiran has a point. If not for whatever role you serve with him, you already did plenty for me as well in rescuing me." Not willing to leave Kiran fending for himself, Anna broke her silence after trying to give everyone else space to discuss up to then. "Maybe we still are a bit clueless how pokemon, trainers and legendaries work, but you did an impressive job as any to walk the rest of us through it with your insight. If you don't want to connect with Kiran however manner you do, it would be a complete wasted opportunity to not at least recruit you in the Order of Heroes. And we could use all the help we could get as it is."

The more Anna spoke, the more Celebi became aware of how many were staring at her. Their faces ranged everywhere from hopeful that Celebi would consider it, to doubtful and hesitant in assuming she made her decision against it already.

With a sigh, especially in realizing she may have strayed far too deep in this after all, she held one hand into a fist and focused her power on it. When her hand opened, a silver bell materialized in her hand, with a small green and blue ribbon tied neatly on the ball's top. As confused as Kiran was, Celebi took Kiran's hand just long enough to leave the bell in his palm.

"...Heal bell?"

[We not only use it to heal, but with more focus, we use it as a means to call one another as well. This bell is special. It has a unique chime between bells based on the creator, and I can hear it chime no matter where you ring it. As long as you keep it safe and don't abuse it, you can use this to call me.]

"Y-you're really… Thank you…"

With massive relief, Kiran kept the bell and tucked it in his inner pockets in his jacket, making sure not to slip it in the same larger pocket he felt Breidablik holstered in. 

As Celebi made her stance on the whole issue clear, Kiran tried to will himself to take his own stand, especially when Phina’s attempt to treat him had left him with more energy. She and Gloria were among the first to be recalled, and he tried not to think too much of how he was watched the entire time from the point he expanded the once tiny pokeballs on his belt, to the way they willingly took a hit from the energy beams they emitted and then broke down into a similar energy that retreated into the ball.

“What are those, anyways? How do those even work?” Once again, Sharena’s interests were perked, and she was the first to break the silence while Celebi seemed to study a tapestry on the walls and Anna and Alfonse waited for the others to get settled.

“And how come you only have three balls, but four pokemon?” Takumi was just as curious, if also a little too nosey with noticing certain details that stuck out to him. He guessed as much now that with Kiran’s references of lack of ‘capture’, Celebi was the only exception to this.

“Ah, well… This is a pokeball.” He took pause before he could recall Honey. After carefully shifting his hold on the togepi, he held out what would’ve been the ball she would’ve returned to. “I’m not exactly the best in explaining how or why it works, but it helps keep a pokemon safe and makes it easier to transport them, especially huge ones. They come in different varieties and designs for all kinds of effects, but these ones are the standard kind. My pikachu has a different kind of device I could keep him in from the others, however.”

Figuring that Honey would be ok to stay out just a little longer, Kiran pressed the button to shrink the ball to the size of a marble and clip onto his belt. With it tucked away, he brought the thick, tag-like charm up to Takumi’s focus, vaguely noticing Celebi among others glancing at it, if not outright staring.

“This works similarly to a pokeball, but it’s used mostly to transfer a pokemon who was already caught in it than for use to capture a pokemon for the first time. Burger has this to stay in this because of me. It makes it far easier for him to come out of his ball without any resistance compared to if his ball wasn’t embedded into this. He knows how to call out my other pokemon and recognize when I’m feeling a certain way, thanks to Reed’s training, so that’s why this was necessary…”

“I see. So you just stick it in there? Kinda weird they can get so small, but guess that’s just how your world’s magic is.” WIth little thought of it, Takumi approached enough to reach out and touch the tag, examining it carefully in noticing that there was indeed an already compact ball in the center of the tag, as if either injected in it or had the tag built around it. While Kiran didn’t mind it in staying still, amused of how even the little things seem to easily charm these people, Takumi examined it carefully while still finding the whole thing weird, yet oddly satisfying.

In fact, he couldn’t explain it, but something about the tag made him immensely happy. Or was it Kiran himself? Something about standing so close to him made him feel an overwhelmingly calm warmth radiate all throughout his body. He couldn’t remember a time he felt as happy as this since before his father and one of his mothers died and he lost his brother. It almost caught him off guard to a point he looked to Kiran in confusion, ignorant to how flushed his cheeks were. It only worsened when Kiran blinked in curiosity before looking down, prompting Takumi to look down as he had.

Right by his side, that tiny pokemon Kiran held in his arms looked up to him. Her tiny, beady eyes may have had a simple look, but she was cute, happy, and trusting. She also had a tiny paw touching his lower chest the whole time.

“...U-um... “

“Oh, ah… sorry…” Realizing what was going on, Kiran backed away. It was just enough for his tag to slip through Takumi’s fingers, and with it, Honey’s paw was pulled away from directly touching Takumi. Just like that, the overwhelming feeling weakened and faded, but the confusion of it all still left Takumi in a daze.

“Wha…? What’s with…?”

“Sorry, I should’ve warned you.” He held Honey up a little higher and closer to his chest, blocking the tag out of view. “Togepies are known to inspire happiness in people by contact. It helps people feel calmer and makes it easier to mentally center themselves. Honey had helped me through a lot of darker times, but if you weren’t expecting it, I-I get it if she accidentally overwhelmed you right then…”

“Prii.” Except compared to Kiran, Honey didn’t seem the least bit guilty of it all, or apologetic of what she did. She still carried a cute, innocent smile in looking up to Takumi with hardly any change to her demeanor. As much as he slowly nodded in accepting Kiran’s explanation, all the same, he still was in a slight daze of the sudden mood whiplash, up to the point she vaguely heard a soft “aww~” behind him from Sharena, and felt Celebi outright shake his shoulder a little.

[Takumi, are you ready?]

“Huh…? Oh! *ahem* Yeah. Right. Sure. What do you want?”

She guided Takumi as the two prepared to open a small gate to Hoshido. With gentle prompts and guiding, Celebi instructed him on how to handle the ring until a much more direct path was set. As Kiran recalled Honey and kept Burger perched on his shoulder, he followed everyone else from behind. One by one, they slipped through the ring's portal, leaving their base while immediately stepping foot into an empty room in Shirasagi's palace. Fortunately, Takumi returned exactly to where Kiran originally snatched him from.

_ "Stay where you are if you value your life, intruders!" _

Unfortunately, since Takumi's disappearance, his siblings had long since split up to assess the situation, and the last place Takumi was seen before his sudden abduction had since been put under heavy scrutiny by Hoshidan forces, particularly a voice Takumi immediately recognized as Saizo's. 

In the time it took for everyone to file in the room, and for Celebi to retrieve and shrink down the ring to wear on her wrist again, they immediately were surrounded by a small fleet of ninjas who surrounded them after appearing out of nowhere, heralding not just the sudden appearance of their red-haired, one-eyed leader, but alerting everyone else outside the room with the sudden noise. Immediately, everyone but Takumi and Burger were complicit in holding their hands up, with Kiran pushing his luck to hold one of his hands firmly on Burger's back when the pikachu openly growled and looked ready to fight. While Kiran didn't doubt Burger's capabilities to take out the whole room if he so pleased, their chance to negotiate with Takumi's kingdom was already fragile enough as it was. He tried to keep himself standing straight, but his head was starting to spin again, and his knees buckled.

_ "Nii-san!" _

Although none of them took the risk to run to it, the ninjas noticeably left the way to the door unobscured at first. In an instant, it was revealed why, when the door slid open to a point of slamming itself in place, just in time not only to reveal a tall, bulky samurai dressed in vivid red armor, but a small, pink-haired miko standing next to him. Not only did she call out to Takumi, but she rushed up to him and openly cried as she hugged him, to his dismay combined with the hostile greeting.

"Hey- woah- will all of you calm down?! Sakura, please, I'm fine!"

"Takumi, where did you disappear to all this time?" The samurai tried to level his voice not to shout, but it was so tense as to nearly miss the point. 

"Y-you couldn't be gone… n-not again… not like…" By comparison, Sakura was meek and soft. She didn't think ill of everyone else, but Takumi's disappearance, however brief, clearly set her off as she sobbed.

"Lord Ryoma, they only just now appeared with Prince Takumi. They seem to have a magic artifact on them."

"Thank you, Saizo. I'll take over from here."

_ "The hell you will!" _ Unable to take it anymore when his family were more focused on defending him on a nonexistent threat, rather than read the room and his own reactions, Takumi had enough. "Look, if all of you would calm the hell down and listen to me, I can explain!"

Unfortunately, just as he was about to, he shifted his attention just enough to notice Kiran lower himself before he could completely fall over. Try as he might, he couldn’t pretend away he still wasn’t quite as well as he tried to hold himself after all, to a point Ryoma eased his guard enough to stop Saizo and the other ninjas from reflexively attacking him. 

“Kiran!”

“Dammit!” 

While Sharena braved through the high vigilance of the ninjas to grab Kiran on one side, Takumi gently parted ways with Sakura enough to catch him from his other side. Sakura followed him, and with the way the two royal siblings reacted, the tension eased more among the ninjas, even if it didn’t completely fade.

“Pika! Pika pikachu!” Burger was frantic. While he patted Kiran’s cheek and seemed to order him to do something, not only did Kiran still remain firm in keeping him from hopping off his shoulder or running off otherwise, but he covered his mouth with his sleeve. Were it not for Kiran, Burger would’ve rushed to dig into Kiran’s coat to prepare his medication, but Kiran still tried to keep the peace to neither get Burger hurt, nor risk letting Burger roam free to harm anyone otherwise.

“Kiran, are you ok? What’s wrong? Y-you sound worse…” Sharena tensed. Kiran wasn’t exactly in the greatest health before, but now his voice was thick, heavy, and rough enough that his coughing turned painful to hear. He nodded, but he wasn’t fooling anyone.

“T-too humid... “ When he finally caught his breath, he tried to force himself to speak, even if he had to beat his chest to cheat it a bit more with a closed fist. He couldn't explain why his heart raced so rapidly, but he tried not to draw more attention to that either. “Give… g-give me a moment…”

“All of you, return to your posts. Saizo, you as well.” Proving themselves just enough not to need so much reinforcements, Ryoma dismissed the ninjas, and with complicated hand gestures, and small puffs of smoke, all but Saizo disappeared. He lingered just long enough to bow his head in respect to Ryoma before following suit in disappearing similarly. 

“Look, I know it looked bad, and it’s gonna take a lot longer to discuss than we have time for right this instant, but all of these people are ok. Promise. And Kiran’s in terrible shape as it is. I’m the one that dragged them back, thinking all of you could help, so will you? Please? I promise everything’s fine otherwise, but please, help me with this, will you?”

What stuck out more to Ryoma is how earnest Takumi was in trying to help with all this. He still felt frustrated how easily Takumi could just vanish in front of him and the rest of their siblings, but more, it left him equally stunned what kind of an impression they must have made for Takumi to not only trust them as he had, but be so willing to stretch his neck out for them.

“H-how long was he like this? What happened?” Without hesitation, Sakura tried to assess the damage to Kiran. As much as the trainer made an effort to speak, he hastily covered his mouth again with more harsh coughing into his sleeve instead. He felt dizzier, and his grip over Burger weakened enough for the pikachu to hop down onto the ground and look up to him in concern with an anxious whine in his throat.

“A while. At least as long as any of us had known him.” With less vigilance over them, Alfonse spoke freely as well. As much as Anna and Alfonse shared their concerns, neither they nor Celebi wanted to smother Kiran too much to worsen the problem. 

"Sakura, Takumi. You know where we kept the futon here, yes? Pull it out and lay him down. I'll go get Mother." 

_ “Thank you…” _ Maybe his voice turned much more tense than he intended, but Ryoma was long since used to it, especially when it was obvious why he was so stressed right then. Kiran couldn’t even wait until Ryoma left before he wound up collapsing completely.

* * *

“Haaa…” [What did I get myself into now…?]

As she warned ahead of time, she left in teleporting away, not back to Johto, but to a different world. It was a land where legendaries roamed freely, in a plane of existence far from the pokemon world, even if still connected. It was among the places she considered her home.

She did, however, take precautions. Before she thought to leave, she at least watched long enough to watch Takumi and Sakura settle Kiran in their futon they’ve set up. She watched Ryoma keep his word enough to bring in a woman whom Alfonse, Sharena and Anna immediately kneeled to, and who she herself bowed toward likewise. She did all she could to be sure Alfonse, Sharena, Anna and Kiran would be safe before leaving their side in the care of Takumi and his family.

But there were more pressing matters she had to investigate. Even if it meant taking the ring with her, and technically stranding the Order of Heroes in Hoshido, there was one concern that left her heart pounding as she flew along the astral planes of their realm in search of her friend.

“You seem surprisingly tense. Did something fun happen?”

She immediately turned toward the source of the voice. Seeing Hoopa for herself, she was initially relieved. However, in slipping the ring off her wrist, the casual, carefree way he looked and spoke was bittersweet to her. 

[Hoopa, what is the meaning of this?] She held the ring up to him. She immediately saw either of his horns and noticed he clearly retained both loose rings on either of his horns and the third on his waist as a belt, but it still left her unsettled of the meaning of the ring in her hand.

“Oh.” But she knew Hoopa too infuriatingly well. It was just like him to casually shrug off the sight of a foreign copy of his ring, but it left her frustrated compared to her own feelings of it. “So some other hoopa gave you a ring. Gotta say, I wish the two of you a happy future, then.”

She also wasn’t a stranger to him making light of such serious subjects either, to her steadily growing frustrations.

[It’s _ your _ ring, Hoopa. Look again.] She moved closer to him, making a stronger effort to emphasize the suspicious stains still on the ring. [It’s your aura signature. That may even be your blood on it for all I know. Are you not the least bit concerned?!]

“Mine? Weeell… Nah.” 

He didn’t seem to care in the slightest how clearly wrong his answer was. For all her glaring, her worries and her fears, he still had a calm, cool smile, as if they drew two very different conclusions from the sight of the ring. 

[Hoopa... of all the times to…]

“Have you been looking into too many bad futures again?”

_[This was in the hands of someone who wasn’t even from our world.]_ She didn’t know how much more it would take to get through to him it wasn’t something to brush off. [An alternate time or otherwise, something happened to you, and now another world could very well have your rings. Two of them are still unaccounted for! This isn’t something to just brush aside!]

“But you seem to have it all figured out of what to do.”

[And _ you _ should be giving this more thought! You act like you don’t have the slightest care at all!]

“Maybe you’re right.” Not that confirming it helped ease Celebi much at all. “Cuz from the looks of it, I’m in good hands.”

Celebi sighed heavily. His words left her conflicted on how much he really trusted her and how much of it was just him pawning off the effort it would've taken to investigate for her to do it instead. He did genuinely trust her, but he was also benefiting quite a bit from her taking the initiative for him.

Perhaps seeing how she clearly wasn't won over, he patted her on the shoulder. For all her prompting to take the ring, when he did, it was more to take it just long enough to take her hand outright. 

"Look. You have more context than I do of what's going on."

[You would too if you either join me or hear me out.]

"But rather than get too many legendaries involved directly, I could help in _ other _ ways."

She was still highly skeptical of what he was getting at, but she at least gave him a chance to clarify, especially when he wasn't technically wrong.

"I hadn't seen you this focused on your job in quite some time. Not saying you were careless and slacked off, but it's like seeing a lost side to you again. Seeing that, I feel better of you being in charge."

He helped slip the ring back over Celebi's wrist, barely noticing the way the ring expanded in the process then shrunk down onto her wrist proper once more. Celebi still didn't know what to make of his point, but it wasn't quite like his excuses like before. It felt a bit more genuine this time.

"And if it's that serious, you probably want to talk to other legendaries about it, right? Wouldn't be easier if I do the legwork for you instead?"

She was still tense, but he did have a point. It told him enough on how disarmed she was that his words rang true after all. She slowly lowered her hand in keeping the ring on her wrist, but hated that he was getting away with keeping this on her to work on in spite of his points.

[...Would you help me get in touch with Giratina, in the meantime?]

"Heh. Atta girl. Besides, if it bothers you that much, wouldn't I be safer the longer I stay here then?"

[... Fair enough…]

He reached over to pat her on her shoulder. She was stiff, but didn't entirely brush him off or resist him.

"So leave Giratina to me. In the meantime, keep the ring, but will you at least clean it at some point?"

[Hmph…] At least he got her to relax more, but it still left her amazed how easily he would brush off such an ill omen as this ring. But by then, she also realized he made up his mind of what to think, too. 

"We'll talk later, ok? I'll give you an update then. Say hi to Dialga for me."

Even with a groan, Hoopa knew enough there was little else to be discussed, and he floated off his own way while leaving Celebi to her own devices. As Hoopa guessed, she wasn’t just here to make sure he was safe after all, but had to speak with Dialga as well. Even so, no matter how much he truly cared, or how genuine it was of his lack thereof otherwise, at least she was glad to confirm that much for herself.

[Ah… I was hoping you would arrive, Celebi. For as long as you were gone, I was worried…]

Deeper in the realm was the Temporal Shrine. As much as Celebi and DIalga both knew bits and pieces of its significance in its former glory, they were details that were lost on them compared to their parents before them. It was not just a place Dialga took as like a home to her, but it was among the places in this realm that still held a tether of sorts to the human world, just enough to get a glimpse of it even from afar. It was how Dialga realized the swordsman was lingering in Goldenrod enough to warn Celebi, and since the attack, Dialga seemed to have never left the shrine since Celebi disappeared. Her voice was soft and gentle as always, and underneath her naturally intimidating looks, Celebi had long since learned to see Dialga’s actual emotions underneath, including her heavy worries.

[It is because of you that I could reach them just in time. But, yes, the crisis had mostly been averted…]

[‘Mostly’... You seem to have much on your mind, Celebi…] She stepped forward. Unfortunately, no matter how careful she was in her steps, her bulk still left small tremors in her wake as she moved closer to Celebi. [Though you saved that human, I couldn’t find you for a time… What happened?]

[It’s… strange…] Regardless, Celebi felt relaxed beside Dialga, especially when unlike Hoopa, Dialga listened to her and took her concerns much more seriously. [It was certainly a world different from the world of pokemon. Even still, that boy is there now.]

[Is it like that world Mewtwo found?]

[I wouldn’t consider it _ completely _ different, there are similar elements, but… No. It isn’t that world. And while I am still not sure if that was the world that swordsman came from for certain, it was what the ring seemed to resonate with the most at the time, even in such an unfocused state.]

Not to mention, there was something more about that world. From the way the castle was like, to the insignias of Askr, to little details here and there she studied, there was something about that place which left her even more confused. Celebies were of course not strangers to stronger feelings of nostalgia than normal, relevant or otherwise. As travelers across different timelines and fates, the sense of nostalgia came naturally to them as if it were second nature. But… the nostalgia she felt in Askr felt different somehow.

Even if she couldn’t voice her thoughts, she didn’t have to. Dialga could read her easily, even if she had no answers either of the thoughts weighing so heavily on her friend’s mind. 

[...Maybe it would be best for you to stay with that boy for a while? Or at least, to continue studying that world.] Even if she had concerns over a world she couldn’t watch from here, she knew from Celebi’s feelings how she seemed already inclined to return to that new world as it was. [Especially if those other two unusual humans try to go after more people…]

[Perhaps… But where did the third wind up?]

[For now, I haven’t found any signs of him in Johto at least. I will keep looking, if you would like.]

[Thank you…]

[...Could you promise me something?]

[What?]

[I know you’ve made up your mind even before to return to that world, but promise you’ll stay safe there, ok? Don’t hesitate to ask any of us for help, even a little...]

Celebi smiled before she could help herself. It was always like this with Dialga. Despite her power - her birthright, rather - she always held a sense of modesty that bled over to her self-esteem for how weakly she brought up her offer. But she was relieved all the same for her support.

[Of course… Promise me too you won’t get too carried away with this shrine as well. And you know to ask me for help in return as well, yes? And not just in regards to Palkia.]

[Hmhmhm~ Yes, I promise. I’ll have you know, Palkia has been on his best behavior, lately.]

[Define ‘best’.]

[He has given me space while I focused on the shrine, for starters. Even if it’s to bide time to plan something, peace of mind is still peace of mind.]

[If you’re sure, Dialga.] 

Even if it was brief, perhaps they both needed this moment of peace even just to help clear each other’s woes. They knew Celebi had to leave again, and had their own things to attend to in a small or grand scale otherwise, but they knew they had to focus on more important tasks than simply teasing Palkia. They parted ways once more.

* * *

“Dammit… He didn’t sound this congested back in Askr… How could he get so bad so quick?”

“I-I think he mentioned something about humidity? M-maybe he came from somewhere much colder…”

“It’s not like Askr was snowing! And besides, Sharena, Alfonse and Anna seem fine enough as it is!”

While Kiran was still unconscious, he was laid on top of the futon that they decided against tucking him in on. If anything, Takumi tried to strip him down further, managing to carefully take his coat off even with the distraction from the sheer amount of things he shoved into his pockets inside at the time. Sharena hesitated to leave his side likewise, even when Alfonse and Anna tried to give them some space, especially as Ryoma stepped away just enough to grab some things Mikoto requested to treat him with.

“But… But Kiran came from a different world from Askr…” While Takumi had a point about Askr being about the same weather, as far as Sharena could tell, none of them knew for sure what kind of climate Johto was like, especially with how thick Kiran’s coat was or how many layers of shirts he wore under it. 

“_ So? _ He didn’t seem to act all that weird back in Askr.” He tried to piece together what more was wrong with Kiran as he moved one more shirt off of him while Burger was distracted enough with trying to tug something out of the inner pockets of his coat. “Besides, his breathing sounds all weird, and his heartbeat's a mess. Maybe it isn’t about the heat, especially when all of you seem fine with the weather.”

On one hand, he had a point. Despite how everyone dressed, Hoshidan or not, everyone wore layers of clothes that were either just as thick as Kiran’s or much worse, and with the Askrans having little trouble to adjust, combined with how sickly Kiran already was, and his other symptoms, he had stronger suspicions that something else was going on that wasn’t about the room temperature. 

“Takumi, please, c-calm down. Kiran will be ok, w-we’ll make sure of it-_ eek! _’

“E-euwrin…” Although having some slight difficulty at first, Phina let herself out of the ball, inadvertently surprising Sakura enough to squeak before she could help it. Fortunately, she recognized how harmless the chansey looked, and more importantly, how the chansey broke free from her pokeball for Kiran’s sake. Just as Mikoto gathered some folded cloth she balanced in her arms, she lowered herself just beside Phina, having a far calmer reaction to her presence compared to her daughter.

“My… How sweet. Are you Kiran’s caretaker?” In fact, she didn’t hesitate to try to speak to Phina either. If it weren’t for Takumi’s clear confusion over Kiran’s pokemon before, Alfonse would’ve thought pokemon were common in Hoshido as well. 

“P-purii~” And to Phina’s credit, she tried to make an effort to speak to her right back, nodding to her in return. 

“Mother!” 

“Ah, allow me!” 

Just as Mikoto settled in her spot to treat Kiran, it was just in time for Ryoma to call over the door. Anna took initiative to slide it open, and with a hasty head bow to her in return, he arrived with bottles of medicine, one of which seemed larger and with a fancier bottle than the others. He kneeled beside her to gently place the bottles by her side.

“Thank you, Ryoma. Ah, but… I understand it may be rather distressing to watch your friend like this. If you would like, perhaps Ryoma and Hinoka could give you three a proper tour. Or was there something else you wanted instead…?”

Sharena blinked. Was there just something about the look on their faces that made them obvious? 

“Actually, what we were gonna ask were for a lot of men we could borrow. Lots of ‘em.” Yet again, Takumi worked on trying to unbutton Kiran's next shirt he wore, at least focusing on stripping him from the top just in case he was injured. He had little to no reservations asking when the Askrans otherwise hesitated, as if he were asking for spare change. 

“For what purpose, Takumi?” Not that Ryoma objected, and doubt Hinoka or Mikoto would oppose much otherwise, but much like everything else they’ve seen, it was quite a lot of changes to him of how much he tried to help these people they themselves had only just met. While Sakura began focusing on her stave, and Mikoto already tried to keep a piece of cloth handy with one of the bottles, Takumi tried to think back to everything Askr needed when Sharena and Alfonse were stunned by just how bluntly Takumi dropped his request.

“Let’s see, builders, healers, maybe some scouts and guards for backup. Probably wouldn’t hurt to have some supplies in general, too. Hey, do you three have a mess hall and stuff?”

“Erm…” “Well…” “Ah, about that…”

“Construction workers too then. And uh… what else...”

“Goodness, Takumi, it seems quite a bit has happened in your disappearance after all. How kind of you to try to help them.” And much like the sudden appearance of a creature none of the Hoshidans had ever seen before, Mikoto took Takumi’s rather sudden demands just as calmly.

“That’s… quite a bit all of a sudden…” Ryoma, however, was somewhat more skeptical. Not that he distrusted Takumi or his intentions, and Takumi proved himself he was certainly acting on his own will, but he already had concerns of just how bad off Askr must have been to warrant it all. “Perhaps while your friend is being tended to, we could discuss specific details together, if you allow. I take it you two are the lords of Askr?”

“Ah, yes! Sorry, we hadn’t introduced ourselves, have we…” 

“There is nothing to apologize for. After all, we hadn’t exactly proven ourselves the most welcoming since your arrival.” Thankfully, with it more than clear what happened, Ryoma had a far different impression of them now to own up to his earlier rash judgement. “I should be the one to apologize to you all. You’ve clearly proven yourselves to my brother, and rather than trust his judgement, I treated you all poorly.”

“But.. You were afraid because your brother suddenly disappeared, right? It’s understandable. I would’ve done something similar if my brother suddenly disappeared too.” 

At least Ryoma’s demeanor seemed more relaxed than before, but he still tried to carry himself calmly and in a respectful manner. Likewise, Sharena tried to remain positive of moving past it all.

“It’s fine, water under the bridge~ Let’s start over then, ok? I’m Sharena, princess of Askr, and this is my brother, prince Alfonse. This is our good friend Commander Anna, and that is our summoner-”

“Kiran, what the hell?!”

Unfortunately, Takumi interrupted Sharena and brought the focus back onto Kiran. By then, Takumi managed to open up Kiran’s shirt, but rather than leave his chest bare, he wore yet another thing underneath. However, it wasn’t yet another shirt to take off, but some kind of smaller garment that overlapped over his immediate upper chest, just under a massive scar that freaked Takumi out over how fresh it almost looked despite the lack of bleeding. 

“W-why the hell didn’t you say anything?! So all this time, you got hurt?!”

“W-wait, Nii-san, please be nice to him, w-we can try and treat this!”

With a wound to focus on, Sakura was already aiming the power of her stave to try to heal Kiran’s wound at his chest. With Sakura using the stave, Mikoto tried to gently dab the wound with a vulnerary-soaked cloth, trying to examine the wound carefully. 

As much as Takumi tried to relax, his focus drifted off of the wound Sakura and Mikoto tried to heal, and focused lower down on what was binding Kiran’s chest. Everyone else hesitated at the sight of what Takumi discovered, so much so that hardly anyone noticed how uneasily Phina stared at Takumi, or Burger finally freeing a bag from under the weight of Breidablik, yanking it out of the pocket at last in trying to bring it to Phina and briefly distracting her with it.

“What’s…? Is _that_ why his breathing is so screwed up? Is it crushing him? Or uh…” Unfortunately, Takumi himself wasn't much of a healer. He could tell Kiran's breathing seemed worse, but he also wasn't sure whether or not there was correlation with how Kiran had a much bigger chest than he expected to see, just his breasts were forced down against his chest by the chest binder.

"It doesn't seem to be the case. He seems congested. Perhaps his lungs are damaged…" While she tried to help with medicine to help with the wound Sakura focused on, Mikoto was concerned of the more internal damage, relenting when she applied the vulnerary, but distrusting Kiran could drink the rest in favor of focusing on healing him with her own stave she brought and held over him. Phina alternated between preparing medicine and watching in trying to study Sakura and Mikoto to learn their healing methods. The others spoke in hushed whispers and concerns tones before Ryoma gently led them out of the room entirely.

"Pikachuuu!"

What left Takumi even more confused was Burger's reaction. His hand happened to drift upward. He initially thought to help strip Kiran completely, but he already thought against it well before Mikoto told him off. However, his hand was still left somewhat in a pose that looked as if he still considered taking the binder off, and while Burger missed his earlier hesitance, he definitely noticed his hand just enough to rush up and push Takumi's hand even further back with a surprising amount of gentleness for a pikachu who initially was so hostile to him. 

"Woah, woah, chill out! I'm not doing anything, cut it out already!"

"Chuuuu!" It caught Takumi off guard of how desperate Burger's tone was, as if he was begging him. He didn't relent until Takumi put his hand fully down. 

"U-um… it's not… w-why is it not working?"

With Takumi proving himself, and with Sakura's timid voice, everyone refocused on Kiran's wound. It still didn't bleed, but no amount of vulnerary or healing helped improve the large wound despite it all. By comparison, Kiran's breathing eased, and the way he inhaled and exhaled became smoother, proving the damage to his lungs healed faster and easier. 

Despite Mikoto shifting her focus to try to help Sakura to heal in tune with one another, nothing seemed to improve with his stab wound. Phina quietly watched, with a heavy heart, reminded of her own failed attempts to heal Kiran's stab wound. If anything, it resonated with their attempts to glow with a sickening purple aura, but it refused to show any progress in healing, and eventually dulled back to a sickly dark, blueish-red tone otherwise when the two gave up their attempts. 

"How strange…" Mikoto carefully traced her fingers along the wound. It was solid. It wasn't quite like the rest of his undamaged skin, but it was thick enough to neither bleed or rupture at her touch, nor prompted a reaction out of Kiran to touch it. All of this was in spite of otherwise still looking visibly raw. Something about the energy it radiated before seemed vaguely familiar to her somehow.

While Phina simply accepted that Kiran couldn't be cured, Sakura seemed crushed in failing him, but was caught just in time by Mikoto reaching out to rub her back.

"Sakura, it'll be ok. Perhaps there is more to this, but it isn't your fault."

"Puriiruun…" Phina agreed. Or tried to, anyways. She tried to encourage Sakura likewise to tell her it was something she didn't know how to fix either, but while the exact words were lost in translation, Sakura at least picked up enough between her tone and visual cues to realize she tried to comfort her.

"Pika pii…" In the meantime, just as Burger averted a possible incident with Takumi (whether or not it was warranted by then), he tried to remind Phina to prepare the medicine, especially now that Kiran was stable, and also noticing the chansey got more distracted by Sakura and Mikoto that she stopped her earlier attempt for a moment. Now that Kiran was as healed as they currently could manage, they tried to give Kiran peace to keep resting while focusing on the chansey. There were dried herbs in the bag Burger gave her, and while she took out a few samples of each different plant she had, and had an egg she just split between a smaller part to crush herbs in and a larger part holding a softboiled egg yolk, she had yet to crush the herbs yet into powder in her distractions. Most were herbs nobody recognized, and half of them looked similar to some form of seaweed, but for the one ingredient they _ could _ recognize, Sakura was the first to panic.

"W-wait, what are you doing with those? Especially those petals…"

"Purii…?"

Ignoring Burger going right back to openly growling at him again, Takumi reached over and snatched the flower petals out of the mixing 'bowl' and snatched the entire herb bag likewise. In similarly ignoring how the pikachu was irritated to reach up and make quite the show of biting Takumi's arm, it wasn't deep enough to penetrate his sleeves, Burger didn't have enough power in his jaws or a big enough mouth to accomplish much, and Takumi ignoring him left him little options of what to do to stop him. With a closer look at the blue flower petals, it impressed him and his family that there were some plants that seemed to transcend worlds after all, but frustrated them of what they recognized the flower petals were.

“T-those… They look like lobelias… W-what were you going to do with them…?” Maybe Sakura expected too much for pokemon who couldn’t talk before to suddenly talk now, but she asked mostly out of reflex in her nervousness anyways. 

“P-priin…” Just as reflexive to try to answer, even with the hurdles they had between them, Phina tried to take back the eggshell bowl, which Takumi relented to, even if he kept a close eye on her. She finished ripping apart the plants besides the flower petals, then dug for something in her pouch that looked egg-like, but seemed far more firm like a rock. With it, she tried to crush the now-shredded herbs into a fine powder.

“I see. So you were preparing medicine for Kiran. Does he take it often?” Mikoto was a little more keen on watching her words to help ease the language barrier. At her words, Phina took pause once again before she could actually begin crushing the herbs.

“Sii.” She nodded.

“Daily?”

“Sii.” Another nod.

“Did he take it for a long time?”

“Purun…” This time, Phina shook her head.

“Then did he only just start taking it recently?”

“Sii.” Once again, she started nodding.

“What a relief… So you caught him before his condition could worsen, Takumi.”

“C-chansey…?!” It was also clear, going by Phina’s immediate alarm, that Kiran’s pokemon didn’t deliberately pick just any plant they could find to inadvertently poison him with in the name of healing him. In between alarmed squeaks and panicked whines with body gestures Mikoto guessed was Phina desperately trying to explain Kiran’s treatment, Burger relented in his attacks against Takumi with a look that was tense enough to want to defend themselves likewise, and slight horror in recognizing Mikoto and Sakura may know what they were talking about, unlike Reed’s supplier.

“Pika pika…” He tried to gesture Phina to calm and quiet down. It took some doing at first, but Phina still seemed panicked and on the verge of tears.

“I-it’s ok! I-it’s not your fault, um..”

“Phina.” Even Takumi seemed to lose much of the edge to his attitude even with Mikoto’s praise for him. However, he tried to help Kiran’s pokemon a little, even with Burger’s hostility.

“P-Phina… W-we know now not to give him that anymore, a-and it’s an honest mistake, especially if you didn’t know what these were… I-I um… I could relate…” 

As much as Phina focused on Sakura, still feeling guilt-ridden for betraying Kiran, she found it easy to relate with Sakura likewise enough to immediately trust her. 

“Nee-chan...”

“I-I thought I could help my brother, too… I-I fed lobelias to Takumi when we were much younger, too, a-and I poisoned him instead, t-thinking I was giving him medicine… i-it was at a time I was just learning about herbs… H-his heart raced, his breathing got so bad a-and he-”

“Hey. Hey. Don’t. Cut it out, ok? I’m fine _ now _, and so is Kiran.” He couldn’t take it anymore. It was bad enough to see Sakura teary-eyed and sad, and Phina was starting to get to him likewise in seeing her break. To have both of them on the verge of tears like this was too much. 

“He’s stable for now. You did what you could, and now you know.” But, with the point clear against taking the medicine, at Mikoto's advice, Phina poured the shredded herbs back in the bag. “Give him time to rest, and he should make a full recovery.”

With little else to be done, Mikoto gently rose to her feet, followed by Sakura. Mikoto gave Kiran and the pokemon time to themselves while intending to check on the Askrans, carefully followed by Sakura who worried of intruding by staying put.

By comparison, Takumi wasn’t quite as sure about leaving. He lingered behind longer than the rest of his family. His hesitance came by just in time to see Kiran may have been awake much sooner than he seemed, and he held his head while testing his breathing, proving he did seem to recover that much despite everything. With how quietly everyone tried to leave, and how quiet Takumi also was of lingering back, Kiran thought he was alone with just his pokemon and didn’t think to check the room. With a heavy sigh, he tried to collect his thoughts for what he overheard when he was just starting to stir a moment ago.

“...Reed…” Were they just too cheap? It wasn’t helped how far away foolproof medicine was from Goldenrod, but was it just a mistake, or a long con? Was it something else? He tried not to think ill of his brother, even if it was a bit to take in. He sighed heavily and turned on his side, knowing there was now yet another subject he had to tackle later, one he thought he could hide and just forget about for as long as he could get away with it.

“Um… Kiran…”

Takumi figured he may as well out himself as still being there before Kiran caught him too late to save face otherwise. Immediately, Kiran tensed and tried to force his shirt to cover his chest more, and he already mentally kicked himself for how Kiran looked at him like a deer who realized Takumi took aim of.

He sighed and took a step forward. Already, Kiran tried to force either sides of his shirt closed that much more. Burger eyed him in the distance with a tense glare, but he and Phina tried to focus more on Kiran’s belongings.

“Er… Sorry… I’m guessing that thing on your chest is a pretty sensitive subject, huh... “

It didn’t help that Kiran remained quiet, even if the look he gave said enough that he was right.

“...Shit.” And given everyone but Celebi saw, he realized the full extent of how much he screwed up. “Sorry… I thought with your scar-”

“It’s fine…” It clearly wasn’t, but Kiran didn’t want to hear it. He smiled, if weakly, trying not to cause more trouble than he already did. “You don’t have to worry so much, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

“Are you sure?” He realized he screwed up, but whether or not it was past the point of no return, he couldn’t tell. It would go figure the one time he could prove himself useful to people, he screwed it up in a matter of hours.

“I already asked too much of all of you as it is…” 

So it threw him off when, rather than hearing Kiran dance around the subject of finding yet another polite way of saying he did indeed screw up again like the hundreds of times he’s heard before, Kiran took a different approach entirely.

“Huh…? Hey, that ain’t fair!”

“Ever since I separated from my friends and brother, Celebi had been holding my hand. It’s been the same thing since coming to Askr and then Hoshido. You all had such high hopes and expectations of me, but, so far, I kept holding all of you back.”

“Kiran, it’s not like you had a choice.” Why did this feel familiar? Maybe a part of Takumi realized a few times people would tell him the same thing, like Mikoto or Sakura.

“Maybe, maybe not… But I don’t want to drag everyone else down… Give me time… I will try some way to make it up to all of you…”

In fact, a lot of this was familiar. Maybe Kiran was nowhere near as haughty, but he saw himself for a moment. Kiran tried to be polite, calm and respectful of Takumi, but regardless, the results were still the same. There was still the same self-defeatist attitude that nearly drowned out whatever pride remained of bettering themselves. There was still a wall of them pushing others away, no matter how supportive, and no matter how much they wanted the help deep down, were it not for pride sake.

Maybe he was a hypocrite, but for a brief moment, Takumi gained perspective.

“Hey, cut it out. What if maybe I _ want _ to be depended on? Did you consider _ that? _”

“What?”

“You heard me. Between how under-prepared those Askrans are, and how you could barely stand half the time since I’ve seen you, will you knock it off with that bullshit and just let me help you? Especially when the rest of my family are tackling the bigger problems Askr has... “

“I…” While taken aback of it all, Kiran was stunned how much Takumi tried to extend an olive branch of sorts when they barely knew one another as it is. But as blunt as he was, he was also genuine, even if it seemed Takumi did this for more than just Kiran’s sake.

“...Alright. Sure.” 

“Good!” Now lay low here until you feel better. Then we can meet up with everyone else, ok? We got good food here you probably can’t find in any other worlds!”

He was even more surprised how lighthearted Takumi spoke now since agreeing, but he didn’t protest it. He lost his edge to try to protest and simply nodded to Takumi at his point, even if it remained to be seen how true it was. Still, there was one thing nagging at him that he couldn’t let Takumi go before saying, especially as the prince was ready to head off.

“Oh, Takumi, one more thing.”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for earlier. Thank you for not thinking differently about me.”

“...Huh?” He blinked. At first, he wasn’t sure what to say of it, or what Kiran meant. It didn’t help that Kiran tried to be vague on purpose as, based on his tone, he seemed uncomfortable to even brush the actual point, much less outright spell it out. It took him a moment, and a cue from the way Kiran adjusted his shirt, for him to realize he meant his gender, and how Takumi, out of reflex, didn’t change what he called him.

Good thing, too.

“...Oh! Right. That. Don’t sweat it, ok?” He tried to play it cool. No big deal, right? It seemed like a silly thing to get hung up on, and he was more worried of outing Kiran as he had than the revelation itself. Seeing Kiran didn’t seem to focus on that, much less seem upset anymore, he was more relieved of that than anything. “Although… Sorry too for how I grabbed you back there.”

“H-heh… You tripped. You didn’t do it on purpose…” But where Kiran seemed warmer in how he smiled to him, something about his voice wavered a little, but in a way that he tried not to worry Takumi of. Briefly, they parted ways as Takumi went ahead to check on his family while Kiran laid back down on his back, trying to gather his nerves before thinking to get dressed all over again.

He wished it was just as easy back at his old home as it was in Hoshido, especially people like Takumi. Maybe things could’ve been different.


End file.
